The Green Lady

by Lisa Picard

Deep within the magical forests of South Africa's Garden Route, hidden in a twilit world of ancient trees draped in old man’s beard, brightly-coloured fungi, lush green undergrowth and crystal-clear streams, lies a secret. This secret is the key to lasting personal transformation. This is the Green Lady.


This charming and deeply spiritual book charts the journey of Peter Allen, a city-based journalist, who spends a six-month sabbatical searching for stories of transformative encounters with the mysterious Green Lady of the forest. These heart-centred and soul-connected stories lead Peter, step-by-step, to his own personal transformation.


Meet the Knysna elephants of myth and legend, dive in the estuary to seek out the elusive seahorse, swim in fern-fringed, sun-dappled pools, meet mischievous nature spirits and elementals, changelings, sylphs and undines, all somehow connected to the Green Lady, guardian of the forest!


Read this book... and be transported by magic and wonder.

ebook

First published August 14, 2015

About the author

I am an ex-corporate warrior who, like several of the characters in my first book, The Green Lady, had a deeply transformative experience in the forests of South Africa’s Garden Route. You can read all about it on my website. This life-altering experience led to my leaving my city life and corporate job and moving to a remote smallholding, high up in the mountains, on the border of the beautiful indigenous forest. My life partner, fellow author and spiritual healer, Arn Allingham, and I built our off-the-grid home with our own hands. It is my greatest joy to share my love of, and connection with, the forests with others through my writing.

Reviews

[Lenore Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful surprise! Since I live in magical forests myself, I can confidently say the author nailed it. Readers will have to remind themselves that it is fiction (or is it??)

Given the restricted format of the short stories, the author managed wonders with character development and scenic narrative; the book flows beautifully and moves one in unexpected ways. Definitely inspired writing that stirs around in one's subconscious. I gave it to my teenager as soon as I finished it.
Some of the imagery in this book will stay with me until the end of Time; perhaps since it stemmed from the beginning of Time...

Spoil yourself with heart-candy.

[Lenita Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.This book is a wonderful mixture of spirituality and conservation. The narrator is a journalist on sabbatical. He is writing a book about The Green Lady and it is a compilation of stories about people who have seen this forest Deva. The stories are very well-woven into the book. Though this is purely fiction, it does make one stop and pause to believe in God and care about conservation.

[Aide B. Columbia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

Enchanting indeed. I feel the exhilaration I felt as a child when reading the magical fairy tales, believing them to be be real. I look forward to reading more about the Green Lady.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every child's or inner child's dream

This beautiful book held my interest and attention throughout. It is a spiritual experience of the highest order. I recommend it unreservedly.

[Sathwik Pokkula · Rating 4 out of 5]

The presentation of the book in the form of many short stories and the way all try to convey the same message was appreciable. The end however seemed a bit repetitive from similar genre books. Not sure of the reason but I wasn’t able to connect to the book at a deeper level that I expected when I picked it up

[Zingdad Zingdad · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to say what I love most about this book. It is beautifully written and delightfully magical. It is also emotionally touching and moving. You can go from mopping a tear from the corner of your eye in one moment, to laughing with delight the next and then having an "aha" moment as you find yourself coming to some new spiritual realization. Moment, after moment, this book is a real joy.

And perhaps that points me to the thing I would have to choose as a favourite: the fact that this book manages to convey some pretty profound spiritual concepts in a way that is so light and gentle that, really, anyone could read it - not just "spiritual seekers". Indeed, I think this book could even be a great introduction to such spiritual concepts for younger readers too, perhaps from early teens up.

[Snigdha Agarwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful read. Not very long to make it boring, and not too short, to not leave a mark. Just the right length. Pretty and thoughtful. Though at the end, it went too abstract, and perhaps became a bit too unbelievable.

[Barbi Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading The Green Lady, by Lisa Picard. It is so magical, and I can feel the otherworldly, loving pulse of life through all of the chapters. Lisa makes the characters and the forest come alive with her special choice of words and prose style. This wonderful story grips young and old alike because it appeals to the inner child in all of us. I highly recommend it for parents reading to children. Each chapter is a completed story, so it’s perfect for nightly reading. It’s also a great vacation read, or for that special time when you just want to get-away into a world of imagination.