The iron tree - Cecilia Dart-Thornton

Jarred, recently come of age, is leaving the sun-scorched desert village that has always been his home. He sets out with a band of friends to see the mighty and beautiful kingdom of the north and to seek out the truth about his father, who came to the village a stranger and departed when Jarred was ten, never to return.

After the travellers are set upon in a ravine and several of their number sustain injuries, they seek shelter in the Marsh of Slievmordhu - a cool green world of dazzling beauty as different from their homeland as night and day. Here Jarred meets Lilith, and in a single moment he realises that his life can never be the same again. But neither of the young lovers is aware how closely linked their fates - and their past - really are. During a visit to Cathair Rua, the Red City, Jarred stumbles across the secret of the Iron Tree, and with it an unbearable truth about his father's identity...

Praise for the 'Bitterbynde' trilogy:

'Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde trilogy - each book and all three together - deserve to win every fantasy award there is' Tanith Lee

'Not since Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring . . . have I been so impressed by a beautifully spun fantasy' Andr Norton, Grand Master of Science Fiction