The Trees

Ali Shaw

Mar 2016 · Bolinda · Narrated by Ben Onwukwe

1 review

Audiobook

18 hr 1 min

Unabridged

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About this audiobook

'There came an elastic aftershock of creaks and groans and then, softly softly, a chinking shower of rubbled cement. Leaves calmed and trunks stood serene. Where, not a minute before, there had been a suburb, there was now only woodland standing amid ruins.' There is no warning. No chance to prepare. They arrive in the night: thundering up through the ground, transforming streets and towns into shadowy forest. Buildings are destroyed. Broken bodies, still wrapped in tattered bed linen, hang among the twitching leaves. Adrien Thomas has never been much of a hero. But when he realises that no help is coming, he ventures out into this unrecognisable world. Michelle, his wife, is across the sea in Ireland and he has no way of knowing whether the trees have come for her too. Then Adrien meets green-fingered Hannah and her teenage son Seb. Together, they set out to find Hannah's forester brother, to reunite Adrien with his wife – and to discover just how deep the forest goes. Their journey will take them to a place of terrible beauty and violence, to the dark heart of nature and the darkness inside themselves.

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Ratings and reviews

1 review

Caelin, LCSW - Peace in Mind, LLC

June 29, 2023

Fascinating, magical, and at times dark and painful, I fully enjoyed this captivating story of life, death, and human evolution. Quite intense in the second half and thoroughly entertaining throughout. The raw, almost-Jack-London-esque descriptions of nature consumed my attention from start to finish, while the delicacy and tenderness of some portions brought me to tears. Unique story, complex and intriguing cast of characters, and just the right balance of fantasy, adventure, and beauty.

About the author

Ali Shaw grew up in Dorset and graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in English Literature. He has since worked as a bookseller and at Oxford's Bodleian Library. His first novel, The Girl With Glass Feet, won the Desmond Elliot Prize, was shortlisted for the Costa First Book Award and longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. He is also the author of The Man Who Rained and The Trees.

Ben Onwukwe is a Nigerian-Swiss actor from London. Ben has appeared in theatre productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Globe Theatre, Almeida, Old Vic and Young Vic. After several stints as a radio performer with the BBC’s Radio Drama Company, Ben has found a passion for audio narration. He has recorded countless audiobooks, including One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Laura Shepherd-Robinson's Blood & Sugar.

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