In 1910, while hiking through the wild lavender in a wind-swept, desolate valley in Provence, a man comes across a shepherd called Elzéard Bouffier. Staying with him, he watches Elzéard sorting and then planting hundreds of acorns as he walks through the wilderness.

Ten years later, after the war, he visits the shepherd again and sees the young forest he has created spreading slowly over the valley. Elzéards solitary, silent work continues and the narrator returns year after year to see the miracle he is gradually creating: a verdant, green landscape that is a testament to one mans creative instinct.

Jean Giono (Author) Jean Gionowas born in 1895 in Manosque, Provence, and lived there most of his life. He supported his family working as a bank clerk for eighteen years before his first two novels were published, thanks to the generosity of André Gide, to critical acclaim. He went on to write thirty novels, includingThe Horseman on the Roof,and numerous essays and stories. In 1953, the year in which he wroteThe Man who Planted Trees, he was awarded the Prix Monégasque for his collective work. Jean Giono died in October 1970.

Harry Brockway (Illustrator) Harry Brockway was born in 1958 and studied sculpture at Kingston Art School and at the Royal Academy, where he learned engraving. He makes a living as a stonemason as well as a wood engraver.