The Fruit Of The Dendragon Tree
is a fantasy novel with crossover appeal to adult and young adult readers. The author%u2019s writing style and theme also provides crossover appeal between fantasy lovers and those readers who might not ordinarily read in that genre.
As the story opens, seventeen-year-old Jake Patel%u2019s mother is dying of breast cancer. Jake is furious at his father David for accepting this fact, and bargains with the universe to save his mother%u2019s life, %u201Cno matter who has to die.%u201D Assisted by his schoolmate Jenny Blackwood, a well-intentioned but inexperienced witch, Jake is transported to the world of Tiramonde, a world that, like himself, is on the brink of catastrophe.
Guided upon his arrival by the witch Ureth, Jake learns that the only thing that can save his mother%u2019s life is the fruit of the Dendragon Tree, a tree that has not bloomed in living memory. But legend holds that plucking the Dendragon fruit will release the dragon Kildraig from his thousand-year imprisonment, and Kildraig was imprisoned for very good reasons.
But here the novel departs from the standard %u201Cquest%u201D fantasy epic. For when David also arrives in Tiramonde, looking for his son, both Ureth%u2019s and Jake%u2019s choices become excruciating: Ureth must choose the true liberator of Tiramonde. And Jake must choose which parent, in the end, he will save.
Vibrant with magic, and alive with centaurs, elves, werewolves and vampires (not to mention a deliciously evil dragon),
The Fruit of the Dendragon Tree
speaks to our fear of inevitable death, and to our hope for continued life. It is a story of premature loss and repaired love, of learning that there are worse things than dying, and that cancers, both real and metaphorical, often require poisons to defeat them.
In an eerie demonstration of life imitating art, author Paul Deepan%u2019s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after the
Dendragon
manuscript was completed. This coincided with his own son (the inspiration for Jake) turning seventeen, the same age as the character Jake in the story.
Half of all author royalties from sales of this book will be donated to charities that fund breast cancer research, prevention, education and support.