Kevin O'Connell

The King Tree Altars of Fire and Water Kevin O'Connell

At first glance, our heroine, Bethany Broom, seems like any other fourteen-year old girl dealing with the ups-and-downs of family, school and social circles. However, not every teenager lives with a grandmother, unbeknownst to Bethany, who comes from a land apart or without a mother, who disappeared without a trace when her daughter was only two-years old. Summer vacation arrived, Bethany is welcoming to their grandmother's home the arrival of her two ten-year old twin half-brothers, Bryan and Reid, who she loves dearly--despite her bumpy relationship with her step-mother. Together, they have plans to do all that young people do during summer vacations: run around the neighborhood, swim down at the pond, play chase in the woods out beyond the house... One night, however, all those plans change. Like her mother before, the two boys suddenly go missing. The only clues to their disappearance are a set of strange footprints that lead to the King Tree, an isolated giant in the middle of a clearing in the woods, the far side of the stream. But the King Tree is no ordinary tree...and Grandma Rebecca knows all about it. Come along as Bethany Broom and her unsuspecting allies step into the Four Lands, a land apart, to rescue her brothers, and along the way, discover not only a fantastic world of people and places but what it means to be friends and family, both the good and the bad.