The promise

Set in a grim, grey, arid urban landscape where ‘Nothing grew. Everything was broken. Nobody smiled’, a girl lives by stealing – until one night her surprisingly strong, old victim will not let go of her bag before she has extracted a promise from the girl to ‘plant them’. The girl doesn’t understand or care what the words mean but she promises, just to get the bag: and from that moment her life changes, for the bag is full of acorns, and by keeping her promise she brings hope into her own life and indeed to all around her... And there is an inspired and inspiring twist to the ending too. The Promise is a beautiful fable for our times, told simply in poetic prose that stays with the reader and acts as a lozenge rather than a hammer for the book’s strong environmental message. As well as being a call to action and change, it offers hope for the future and a reminder that there are always people who are quietly and unobtrusively committed to making the world a better place, and that their actions have a knock-on effect in inspiring others, even if it takes time for results to percolate: not to mention the rewards that can be reaped from keeping a promise.