Beautiful Trees is Nik Perring’s much anticipated
follow-up to Beautiful Words, in
which Alexander and Lucy’s story was told, and the second book in the genre-pushing trilogy
ending with A Book of Beautiful Shapes.
“There
are many reasons to love [Beautiful Trees]. We are in a relationship with them
for a start, […] like some sort of involuntary symbiotic love affair.”
There
are many reasons to love Beautiful Trees.
We get to find out what happens to Alexander when he meets Lily, for a start,
“[a]fter Lucy went away”. Only, there are reminders of Lucy everywhere, little
echoes, so that no matter how different trees may seem on the surface, the
reader cannot help but notice how beautiful the words of the twenty-three stories
in Beautiful Trees are, too.
Gorgeously
illustrated by Miranda Sofroniou and published by Roast Books, Beautiful Trees is a visual treat of originality. Each page
is printed and patterned with images that build on the symbolism revealed about
the trees featured in the stories and add to the mythology of Alexander and
Lily. The overall effect is one of opening a dictionary and finding that every
definition not only has a map but also pinpoints another stop in the journey of
a love story.
But
nothing is ever as simple as it first appears. Beautiful Trees is much more
than a series of jigsaw pieces about trees and their relevance to the lives of
Alexander and Lily. The book makes a much broader commentary on the
significance of nature on all our lives. Not only the nature we are surrounded
by, but the nature within us.
Beautiful
Trees makes us question what it is to be human, our mythology, to be connected
to something greater than individual selves, and to think ahead to what may be.
It’s really a book about choices, if we have them, or if we are in a bigger
story arc, one where trees are the main characters, perhaps, and we are merely
players, on repeat.
“[…]
without their leaves. Their bark was silver. ‘Like glowing bone,’ you said, and
I knew then that we were the same.”
"Nik Perring's stories are gems, every one of them" - 3 :AM Magazine