This slim volume follows the pattern of Robinson's Underworld Tales. It contains four short chapters, each of which is centred around a tree and its associated dryad: the walnut tree, the elm, the holm oak and the black poplar tree.
After a brief description of each tree, again attractively illustrated by Lydia Hall, Lorna Robinson (of Iris Project fame) tells a mythological story from the point of view of the dryad herself.
For the walnut tree, Robinson skilfully turns the story around – the happy-go-lucky dryad sisters feast on the walnuts, until one of them is taken by Dionysus: their end is bitter-sweet. The elm tree dryad is concerned with dreams, and the mysterious story of Orpheus is at the centre, until Morpheus takes it away. At Dodona stood the oak tree sacred to Zeus: the story of the holm oak reimagines the creation of the oracle, with a slightly wry angle. The sisters of the black poplar tell the tale of a mysterious brother, who returns from a chariot race in the sky.
The stories are allusive and full of charm; the background information interesting in itself – whoever knew that Galen was onto something close to aspirin?
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