Walking the Tree - Softcover

"Like walking from a dream into a mythical land both familiar and delightfully strange. A tale of tolerance and survival, in a fascinating and beautifully realised world." -Trudi Canavan, author of the Black Magician Trilogy "Kaaron Warren is a fresh, amazingly talented voice out of Australia. You *must* read her work." - Ellen Datlow "It is the setting that really makes the story and keeps the reader interested. The various communities of Botanica are well thought out and intriguing, and their differing attitudes towards disease, sex and the Tree constantly challenge Lillah's thoughts and beliefs. It also draws on our own awareness of humanity's evolution, and adds a sense of reality to the already convincing setting." - Total SciFi Online "Walking the Tree is an unpretentious, eye-opening experience. Dark but never dim, Karron Warren's first novel since she documented the psyche of a serial killer in her debut Slights is an insightful, earthy chronicle of diversity and understandings arrived at and remade. Hers is a voice that demands to be heard, and I don't doubt that this marvelous fable represents only the root of her talents." - Niall Alexander, The Speculative Scotsman ..". I found myself simply enchanted by the world Warren has built and enjoyed the journey through it just as much as any plot put forth to guide my way ... readers who value the path as much as the destination will surely love this tale ... Immersive and lovely, it's a book to savor and revisit." -www.owlcatmountain.blogspot.com, January 2011

Botanica is an island, but almost all of the island is taken up by the Tree. Lillah has come of age and is now ready to leave her community to walk around the Tree for five years, learning all that Botanica has to teach her. Before setting off, she is begged by the dying mother of a young boy to take him with her. But if anyone suspects he carries the disease too, he and Lillah will be put to death.