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Splendour

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What to expect

A moving tale of resistance and renewal, from the acclaimed author of Twelve Words for Moss

Two friends, Kenjo and Leah, swoosh through the lush forests at the edge of their village in Kenya. Imitating hornbills and lying on the mossy boulders that line the river, the young girls are watched over by a canopy of ancient trees, whose roots reach into the past, present and future.

But this glittering countryside is quickly becoming a haunting. As the armed rebellion against the British colonial regime intensifies, the forest is subsumed in a destructive conflict, disturbing the profound balance of life it nourishes and knowledge it preserves. Forced from their homes, the friends are separated by oceans and decades. Like the branches that once sheltered them, they may be twisted and buckled by violence, but they will also, somehow, endure.

This tale of courage, survival and restoration captures the healing – and destructive – power of time and unearths the hidden traces it leaves behind.

© Elizabeth-Jane Burnett 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

Moving, beautiful . . . despite the novel’s poetic shimmer, Burnett honours the power of plot and is unafraid to dwell in its darkest twists and turns . . . this debut novel shines
Observer
Praise for Twelve Words for Moss
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Exquisite, luminous and quietly radical... so electric and so alive. It makes the world more beautiful and dimensional and vibrant... utterly unique and refreshing
Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence
A fascinating, subtle and risk-taking book
Robert Macfarlane
Hybridity (of form, subject) is what makes Elizabeth-Jane Burnett's work sing, beguile
Sinéad Gleeson, author of Constellations
A masterclass in the art of prose writing
Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted
Author Elizabeth-Jane Burnett
Narrator Natalie Kassanga
Duration 8 hours and 59 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781837311842
Format Audiobook
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Genre Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Environmental issues, Narrative theme: war and conflict
Availability AU, GB, IE

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