<p>One of the most vivid, gripping and chilling first novels of recent years, <b>The Republic of Trees</b> tells the story of Michael, Louis, Alex and Isobel, four children on the edge of adolescence, who run away to the forest to establish their own utopian community. <br><br>All seems well in the Republic of Trees - until the sudden arrival of Joy. Under her influence, their relationships grow more erotic and obsessive, and the shadows of a nightmarish dystopia start to encroach on reality . . .</p>