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A new children’s book

“Love, like nature, never truly fades.”

A gentle story of love, loss and the nature that connects us, inspired by one family’s journey through grief. Order your copy today, and download a free colouring book while you wait.

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The Tree & The Bee children's book cover by Alex Abbey

A story for the moments that are hard to put into words

Every Saturday, Isla pedals her pink bike along a winding path through the countryside to visit the woodland where her Nana now rests. Along the way, she discovers that the people we love never really leave us. They live on in the trees we sit beneath, the bees that visit the flowers and the robins that sing in the hedgerows.

The Tree & The Bee was written to help children, and the grown-ups beside them, talk about loss gently, with hope and with wonder at the natural world.

Where the story began

“Love does not disappear. It lives on in nature, in every tree and every bee.”

In 2022, I lost my mum. It was the first time grief had truly touched me, and it changed the way I saw the world.

Mum was not one for traditions. She chose to be laid to rest not in a churchyard, but in a woodland called Brocklands, deep in the Yorkshire Dales, looking over Pen-y-Ghent. We said goodbye with a horse-drawn carriage, cups of ‘Yorkshire’ tea, her favourite songs, and stories about how special she was.

Since then, that woodland has become something more than a resting place. It is where my daughter Isla and I go to feel close to Mum, among the trees, the birdsong and the changing seasons.

It is there that we found something we now believe with all our hearts: love does not disappear. It lives on in nature, in every tree and every bee.

That belief, and the comfort it has given Isla since she was three, is where The Tree & The Bee began.

Wherever you are in your own journey, we send you and your family the same comfort and gentle peace that Isla and I have found.

Isla visiting her Nana's woodland grave at Brocklands

Isla visiting Nana at Brocklands, age 3.

The Tree & The Bee picture book

Order now · Publishing 21 November 2026

Bring The Tree & The Bee home

A gentle picture book for children aged 3 to 8, and the grown-ups beside them, about love, loss and the nature that connects us.

£11.99

Each copy is printed especially for you. Please allow up to 3 working days for printing (up to 5 in busy periods), plus delivery. UK delivery from £3.99.

Prefer your local bookshop? Ask them to order The Tree & The Bee, ISBN 978-1-0369-9564-5.

A peek inside

Every page is painted in soft watercolour, full of the Yorkshire hills, woodlands and wildlife that run through the story. Look closely and you’ll find a little bee and a friendly robin following Isla wherever she goes.

Watercolour illustration of the Yorkshire hills from The Tree & The Bee
Isla under a rainbow, illustration from The Tree & The Bee
Free The Tree & The Bee colouring book pages

Download a free colouring book

Printable colouring pages inspired by The Tree & The Bee, to enjoy together at the kitchen table, on a rainy afternoon or after a visit somewhere special. Pop in your email and you can download it straight away.

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Free to download and print. You’ll also hear when the book launches. We’ll never share your details.

Kind words from readers

Have you shared The Tree & The Bee with a little one? We would love to hear what you thought.

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Follow the journey

Come along as The Tree & The Bee comes to life. We share behind-the-scenes illustrations, little moments from the woodland and all the latest launch news.

Where to buy

Find us in independent bookshops

You can find The Tree & The Bee on the shelves of these lovely independent bookshops. Pop in, say hello, and support your local bookseller.

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Are you a bookshop that would like to stock the book? Get in touch.

Coming soon

The Tree & The Bee is published on Saturday 21st November. Order your copy today and it will be printed especially for you, or ask your local bookshop to order it using ISBN 978-1-0369-9564-5.

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