The Great Dimpole Oak

Janet Taylor Lisle

Jan 2013 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

DIVAn ancient oak tree has seen glory and tragedy—but nothing quite as spectacular as the showdown that’s brewing
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For nearly a thousand years, the Dimpole Oak has towered over this small East Coast town, witnessing the passage of history: duels and revolution, lovers’ trysts and traitors’ hangings, victory parades and midnight conspiracies. The farmer who owns the land beneath the tree likes to tell stories of the murders and witch trials that took place in its shade. Local children play on the oak’s great roots and dig for buried treasure. The townsfolk plan a Dimpole Oak Day to celebrate their landmark./divDIV /divDIVMeanwhile, far away in India, a swami has a holy vision of the oak, and begins a journey to find it. Back in Dimpole, two boys take inspiration from the blackguards and pirates of the old farmer’s tales, and challenge a local bully to a confrontation under the oak. As all these plots and plans converge, the mighty oak stands ready to witness another grand event./divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features a personal history by Janet Taylor Lisle including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s own collection.
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About the author

DIVJanet Taylor Lisle (b. 1947) is an author of children’s fiction. After growing up in Connecticut, Lisle graduated from Smith College and spent a year working for the volunteer group VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) before becoming a journalist. She found that she loved writing human interest and “slice of life” stories, and honed the skills for observation and dialogue that would later serve her in her fiction./divDIV /divLisle took a fiction writing course in 1981, and then submitted a manuscript to Richard Jackson, a children’s book editor at Bradbury Press who was impressed with her storytelling. Working with Jackson, Lisle published her first novel, The Dancing Cats of Applesap, in 1984. Since then she has written more than a dozen books for young readers, including The Great Dimpole Oak (1987) and Afternoon of the Elves (1989), which won a Newbery Honor. Her most recent novel is Highway Cats (2008).