Marcel’s Peaches & The Raven’s Dream

A debut YA novel that is both a story of horrifying things and a celebration of the power of hope and resilience.

“Behind this garden is a labyrinth.  It’s a dark and dangerous place, but there’s a boy trapped inside.”

When a tragic chain of events tears his life apart, eleven-year-old Thomas finds himself in a children’s home. He is found by a sinister character called Raven who takes him to an old orangery where they encounter a ragged man called Marcel. The sole purpose of Marcels’ life is to feed an old gnarly peach tree. From a branch hangs a single ripe peach. Marcel tells Thomas that if he eats this peach, it will take away all his problems. But there is a terrible price to pay, because the tree demands tribute; a tribute which must be hunted down within a dark and dangerous labyrinth and taken from the soul of a lost boy it has imprisoned.

A powerful debut novel that is both a story of horrifying things and a celebration of the power of hope and resilience.

CLÍONA WOODS grew up between the mythical landscapes of Shropshire, England and County Meath, Ireland. Her origins lie in the brutal Spanish and Viking invasions of Ireland; ravages which mingled their mythologies, and left behind a race combining the ethereal Norwegians, vivacious Spaniards, and the mystical indigenous Irish. She has always loved stories; they are an intrinsic and essential part of her identity. As a child Clíona’s primary source of sustenance came from authors such as Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, Jenny Nimmo and Tolkien. Marcel’s Peaches & The Raven’s Dream is her debut novel.