The Peach King begins with a young sapling, Little Peach Tree, growing in the shelter of an orchard. Watching over the orchard is the mighty Peach King, whose tangled branches look like a crown and stretch out from the hilltop. The Peach King sends whispered warnings through the rows – telling the trees when to brace against the wind, welcome the rain, or call the birds to feast on grasshoppers.
As the seasons turn, we watch Little Peach Tree grow. The orchard blossoms in spring ‘sap surging, buds budding, growing in spurts’. The branches bear heavy fruit in summer, and glow in autumn’s kaleidoscope of colour, as leaves begin to fall, ‘just one, and then two, and then – whoosh – all in a flurry’ before Little Peach Tree and the orchard shiver bare, sleeping through the quiet of winter ‘dreaming peachy dreams’. But as time passes, the rain comes less often, and the Peach King’s branches grows brittle. One blistering summer, the air shimmers with heat and neighbours hurry to strip the orchard of its fruit. A fire is coming.
Simpson’s writing is exquisite: spare, lyrical and deeply evocative. There is not a word wasted or out of place. Her story is perfectly matched with illustrations that sweep from corner to corner bringing the seasons alive. Together they create a timeless tale of growth, change and resilience.
The Peach King feels like a book destined to become a classic.
Reviewed by Jane Stephens
Age Guide 3+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Inga Simpson began her career as a professional writer for government before gaining a PhD in creative writing. In 2011, she took part in the Queensland Writers Centre Manuscript Development Program and, as a result, Hachette Australia published her first novel, Mr Wigg, in 2013. Nest, Inga’s second novel, was published in 2014 and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Stella Prize and shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal. Inga’s third novel, the acclaimed Where the Trees Were, was published in 2016.
Inga was awarded the final Eric Rolls Prize for her nature writing and has obtained a second PhD, exploring the history of Australian nature writers. Inga’s account of her love of Australian nature and life with trees, Understory, was published in 2017. Her first book for children, The Book of Australian Trees, illustrated by Alicia Rogerson, was published in 2021. The Last Woman in the World, her critically acclaimed environmental thriller, was published in 2021 and shortlisted for the 2022 Fiction Indie Book Award. Her bestselling and critically acclaimed 2022 novel Willowman was shortlisted for the BookPeople Adult Fiction Book of the Year 2023 and in 2024 was selected by Australia’s leading booksellers in BookPeople’s 100 Must-Read Australian Novels. Her 2024 literary thriller The Thinning has been shortlisted for the 2025 ACT Literary Award for Fiction and was longlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize and the 2025 Fiction Indie Book Award. The Peach King, illustrated by Tannya Harricks, is her second book for children, and published in 2025. Once We Were Wildlife is her eighth novel.
Inga lives on the New South Wales south coast among trees.
Tannya Harricks is an illustrator and artist who lives in Sydney. Her award-winning art practice draws inspiration from the Australian landscape, its animals and her love of adventure. Tannya studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Randwick TAFE (now Design Centre Enmore) and will soon complete a degree in Visual Culture at Curtin University. She has previously illustrated six picture books, including Night Watch and Mallee Sky, both by Jodi Toering.
Tannya illustrated The Heartbeat of The Land by Cathy Freeman and Coral Vass which was shortlisted for the Wilderness Society Karajia Award. Tannya has illustrated the titles Kookaburra and Dingo both by Claire Saxby. Dingo was joint winner of the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature at the NSW Premier’s Literary Award (2019), won the Royal Zoological Society of NSW’s Whitley Award (2018) and was shortlisted in 2019 for the CBCA New Illustrator Award as well as for Best Picture Book in the Educational Publishing Awards.
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