Sandy McDonald was a story-telling coach and speaker, but her next pivot revealed an awkward truth. Even as a practiced writer on philanthropy, business and the climate, being a story-teller was not an automatic stepping stone to authorship.

'Min Barklin and the Silver Radiants' is the result of a nearly six-year quest to learn all she could about this mercurial, and endlessly fascinating craft. This debut novel is the first of a trilogy.

Sandy and her protagonist, Min Barklin, plan to build a clan of inspired tree-tenders to care for trees and their ecosystems.

They will employ ideas from a 20,000 strong world-wide community which Sandy started for a charity called Knit-a-square. She shared this story at TEDx Melbourne in 2014.

Sandy believes stories told coherently from clarity of purpose act as a conduit to curiosity fuelling the energy to enrich, transform and save lives.

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