Tree Thing: A highly illustrated story by an award-winning author

by Piers Torday

Gorgeously illustrated and with a classic feel, this story celebrates bravery, hope and the marvels of the natural world. When the dark rider on a horse arrives, Marlo's bravery is the only thing standing between Tree Thing and certain destruction ... An unmissable tale from award-winning Piers Torday.


Once, in a faraway land, a green thing squeezed out of the earth. The mysterious Tree Thing, which changes Marlo's life forever.

Nothing grows in Marlo's valley, and it's a struggle to survive. But when his squirrel Rinti finds a glowing emerald acorn, it grows into a miraculous Tree Thing.

Tree Thing changes everything, bringing life and hope. And when the shadowy Rider arrives with an axe, Marlo needs all his bravery and ingenuity to stand between triumph and disaster.

From the acclaimed, award-winning Piers Torday comes an unforgettable fable for all ages, a brilliantly illustrated story for young and old.

186 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 15, 2026

About the author

Piers Torday is an award-winning and best-selling children's writer. Books include The Last Wild, The Dark Wild, The Wild Beyond, The Wild Before, There May Be a Castle, The Lost Magician, and The Frozen Sea, with his latest one, Midnight Treasure, out in September 2024. His work has been translated into 14 languages.

His plays include The Box of Delights (Wilton’s/RSC), Christmas Carol, The Child in the Snow, and The Wind in the Wilton’s (Wilton’s Music Hall). The Little Angel Theatre has adapted his book There May Be a Castle for the stage.

The son of Paul Torday (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), he completed his father’s final unfinished novel, The Death of an Owl and co-founded the Paul Torday Memorial Prize for Debut Novelists over 60.

He has contributed short stories to Winter Magic, Scoop, and Return to Wonderland, nonfiction pieces for The Book of Hopes, The Writer’s Map, and Swallowed by a Whale, reviewed books for The Guardian, The Literary Review, and The Spectator, and judged The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, The Costa Book Awards, and the British Book Awards.

Piers is also Chair of the Society of Authors Sustainability Steering Committee, a trustee of The Unicorn Theatre, Patron of Shrewsbury Book Fest and an Artistic Associate at Wilton’s Music Hall.