The Hidden Life of Trees snapped up by Greystone

International bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees is to be translated into English for the first time and published simultaneously by Greystone Books in the UK and North America and by Black Inc books in Australia.

Greystone Books acquired world English-language rights for The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World, by Peter Wohlleben from Gesche Wendebourg at Random House Germany.

Wohlleben, who spent more 20 years working for the forestry commission, describes in The Hidden Life of Tress how trees "are like human families; tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers".

The Hidden Life of Trees is a number-one bestseller in Germany, where it has sold more than 320,000 copies since it was first published six months ago and has been licensed to more than 16 languages and territories, the publisher has said.

Greystone are represented by Perseus in the UK and promoted by Fiona Brownlee of Brownlee Donald Associates.