SCOTTISH AUTHOR MAIRI CRAW'S NOVEL WAY OF CELEBRATING EASTER

"What lasts longer than an Easter egg, is better for you and far more entertaining?

And when was the last time a chocolate egg made you laugh out loud or sent shivers down your spine?"

Author Mairi Craw from Hazelbury Bryan in Dorset (UK) has joined forces with the Easter Bunny to lift our spirits after the dark days of winter, and it's a book which can be enjoyed by the whole family.

We all know how fickle the weather can be during those longed-for school holidays, so have something in reserve just in case it pours with rain and that walk in the country or trip to the seaside has to be postponed.

Mairi invites us to step beyond the hedge with her heroine, 11-year-old Sandy Henderson, and enter the enchanted land of Sylvania, a magical world of Scottish fairy folk and talking beasts, which is ruled by raven-haired Queen Celestina whose fragile beauty belies her uncompromising bravery. This is a Fairy Queen with attitude who flouts every fairy-tale convention. No sedate tea dances for her, aerial flamenco is more Celestina’s style, in the sort of dresses which send other frocks scurrying to the back of the wardrobe with feelings of shameful inadequacy.

Meet Pongo, the stupendously hairy dog, and Jamie, the aristocratic Siamese cat, who likes nothing more than teasing his canine friend, and join them as they team up with two unlikely heroes, a flashily-attired lobster with a morbid fear of boiling water, and his best pal, a one-legged seagull who’s as tough as an old seaboot. Share their hair-raising adventures as the fairy world takes on the evil entity whose sole aim is to destroy everything Sylvanians cherish.

All the motley characters Sandy encounters along the way, including a high-minded kilt with delusions of grandeur and the bane of its life, a cheeky wee leather sporran with aggressive tendencies, have the power of speech, something rarely revealed to human beings whom they rightly regard with deep suspicion.

Prepare for the rollercoaster ride of a lifetime when the forces of good and evil are violently unleashed in a page-turner of epic proportions.

The battle for control of Sylvania has terrifying and far-reaching repercussions as the various protagonists are exposed to the darkest recesses of the soul in a cataclysmic struggle that changes the lives of everyone it touches forever.

To coincide with the holiday season, Mairi is offering a limited number of signed first editions of 'Beyond the Hedge' at a heavily discounted price. Each book will also be signed by the illustrator, Johnny Milne, whose specially-commissioned drawing of the Easter Bunny holding a copy of 'Beyond the Hedge' is on Mairi's website.

Don’t miss out! Contact the.easter.bunny@mairicraw.com, or phone +44 (0)1258 817214 to reserve a copy.

EASTER BUNNY’S PRIZE DRAW

A name will be selected at random from all those who place an order before the offer ends at midnight on 10th April 2006.

The winner’s name will be posted on www.mairicraw.com, and an additional FREE signed first edition, with extra goodies, including a full-size print of illustrator Johnny Milne's drawing of the Easter Bunny with 'Beyond the Hedge', will be despatched within 48 hours.