The Ancient Oaks

<p>Jim Wetherby orphaned when arsonists burnt down his home and his parents killed slaves as a scullery boy at a New Forest inn. Naively drawn into a smuggling ring the young teenager increasingly finds solace in the forest as he determines to uncover some dark secrets.</p><p>Intrigued to find his godfather living covertly in a cottage in the forest memories of his past life unravel into reality. When he becomes infatuated with a young girl of some breeding Lily he’s anxious to better himself – learn to read especially the Bible he sees at his godfather’s home.</p><p>As disaster strikes Jim becomes aware of a spiritual presence looking out for him in the forest – could it be the Gypsies who befriend him or the fallow deer that always seems to be close by?</p><p>Mystery and conspiracy abound in this delightfully evocative story of life in the New Forest in the 1840s.</p>