I’m happy to be welcoming Elisabeth J. Hobbes to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour for her novel, The Promise Tree. 

When does a story begin?

For Edwin Hope, it begins with a childhood dare and a forbidden tree. It begins with him falling … in more ways than one.

Called home from his studies by the grandfather who has always hated him, eighteen-year-old Edwin is once again trapped in a house that is colder than the winds whipping across the fields. Seeking sanctuary, he escapes into the untamed beauty of the Peaks and meets a woman who sparks an old memory. A memory of the sycamore that broke him, and the little girl who saved him.

Drusilla has had many acolytes over the centuries but none like Edwin. With the Great War looming and Edwin’s future uncertain, she knows the right thing to do is to set him free from her spell, but can she do so if it means breaking her own heart?

Elisabeth has shared an extract with us today. Enjoy. 

*****beginning of extract*****

After more than a decade of living with his aunt and uncle in Yorkshire Edwin has been summoned back (unwillingly) to Cheshire by his grandfather to begin learning about the family silk business.  His grandfather is not there when he arrives so he goes to visit his parents’ graves in the local churchyard and on the way back he sees the sycamore tree that he had been obsessed with as a child.

There was the sycamore tree that stood alone on the top of the mound. This was the tree he had climbed and from which he had fallen. He remembered now how fascinated he had been by it and his pulse fluttered briefly. He was barely conscious of the decision to detour and walk via the tree before returning to the house through the meadow, but he found himself taking that route. Stanley, the old horse, was standing in the centre of the field, head down and grazing. He lifted his head and regarded Edwin solemnly before turning away and walking down to his stable.

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