Hidden beneath the forests of our world lies the Rootway — an ancient network of paths, cities and forgotten peoples governed by Seven Laws.
For centuries, it has remained hidden.
Until Rowan Beige found the way in.
About The Author
Gareth D Rothwell
Author • Screenwriter • Storyteller
Gareth D Rothwell is a British writer and the creator of The Codex of Woodland Law, a planned seven-book fantasy series beginning with his debut novel, The Thorn Gate.
Before pursuing his passion for writing, Gareth served for 18 years in the British Army, an experience that took him through a very different world from the forests and hidden paths that would later inspire his fiction.
Writing, however, has been part of Gareth's life for many years. His work has included poetry and screenwriting, including the short film Waiting for Dawn, directed by Richard Cousins. But one ambition remained—to write a novel and create a world large enough for its stories to continue long after the final page of the first book.
That world became the Rootway.
Inspired by ancient woodlands, British landscapes, folklore and a fascination with the possibility that there may be more to the ordinary world than we notice, Gareth began developing a story about a thirteen-year-old boy from Manchester who discovers a path that shouldn't exist.
From that simple beginning grew the Great Silver Trees, forgotten peoples, living books, the Hiraeth and the Seven Woodland Laws—and a story that ultimately became much larger than one novel.
At the heart of Gareth's writing is a simple idea: hope.
The Codex of Woodland Law explores our relationship with nature, with one another and with the choices we make when knowledge gives us the power to change things. Its characters do not always have the answers. They make mistakes, question what they have been taught and gradually discover that knowing what can be done is very different from understanding what should be done.
Gareth lives in the Ribble Valley in Lancashire with his wife, Tracey. Together they have three sons, and Gareth is also a proud grandfather to a grandson. Surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside in northern England, there is rarely a shortage of old trees, winding paths and landscapes capable of inspiring another corner of the Rootway.
He is currently revising The Thorn Gate while writing the second book in the series, The Severed Root, and continuing to develop the wider world of The Codex of Woodland Law.
After eighteen years in the Army and a lifetime spent imagining stories, Gareth has finally followed a rather different path.
And he's still discovering where it leads.
Some paths are not found. They are remembered.
A World Where the Answers May Already Be There
The Codex of Woodland Law is a planned seven-book fantasy series beginning with The Thorn Gate.
At its centre is thirteen-year-old Rowan Beige, an ordinary boy from Manchester who discovers the Rootway—a hidden world connected to our own through ancient forests, forgotten paths and gateways that most people no longer know exist.
But the series is about more than discovering another world.
Each book explores one of the Seven Woodland Laws—Understanding, Connection, Flow, Energy, Reality, Ending and Experience. As Rowan learns more about them, the questions become increasingly difficult. What begins with understanding the world eventually becomes a question of what should be done with that understanding.
And the books are connected in other ways.
Small breadcrumbs are scattered throughout the series: a scent, a colour, a strange memory, an unexplained object, a seemingly unimportant conversation. Something encountered in one book may not reveal its true significance until several books later. Readers who return to earlier stories may discover that moments they once overlooked now mean something entirely different.
The world itself also grows with Rowan. New peoples, places and mysteries are revealed as the series progresses, while familiar characters change because of what they experience. Even those who appear to stand against Rowan have their own histories, beliefs and reasons for the choices they make.
There are mysteries hidden within the Rootway that Rowan will spend years trying to understand.
Some answers lie ahead of him.
Others have been beside him from the very beginning.
Because in The Codex of Woodland Law, the question is rarely simply what happened?
Sometimes the more important question is:
Why?
Breadcrumbs — Look Twice
Not everything is as it seems.
Throughout The Codex of Woodland Law, small clues are hidden within the stories. A scent noticed for only a moment. A colour that appears where it shouldn't. A passing remark. An object whose importance is easily overlooked. A memory that doesn't quite make sense—or a question that nobody thinks to ask.
Some will matter within the book in which they appear.
Others may not reveal their meaning until much later in the series.
These breadcrumbs are never essential to enjoying the story, but they are there for readers who like to look a little closer. As the seven books unfold, moments that once seemed insignificant may take on an entirely different meaning.
And occasionally, the answer may have been there all along.
So when something in the Rootway seems unusual, don't always expect an immediate explanation.
Remember the first lesson:
Not everything is as it seems..
Look Closer...
Some clues are meant to be found. Others are meant to be remembered.
The Codex of Woodland Law is filled with small details that may mean more than they first appear. Some will be explained quickly. Others may wait several books before revealing why they mattered.
Here are five breadcrumbs hidden within The Thorn Gate. No answers. Just things to watch...
🌿 01 — THE SCENT OF LAVENDER
Why does Rowan keep noticing it?
Lavender appears at curious moments throughout Rowan's journey—sometimes where it belongs, and sometimes where it seemingly doesn't.
🍂 02 — THE SILVER OAK LEAF
“Never lose the Leaf.”
Many people recognise Rowan's Silver Oak Leaf.
Some seem surprised by it.
Others appear to know far more about it than Rowan does.
But why does Annis warn him never to lose it?
👁 03 — THE WOMAN WITH GREEN EYES
A face Rowan almost remembers.
A woman. Green eyes. Fragments of memory.
The deeper Rowan travels into the Rootway, the more pieces seem to surface.
Are they memories—or something else?
⏳ 04 — WATCH ANNIS
Listen to what he doesn't say.
Annis teaches Rowan to ask questions.
Curiously, he doesn't always answer them.
Sometimes he changes the subject. Sometimes he offers only part of an answer. And sometimes...
he says nothing at all.
🎟️ 05 — WATCH THE TIME
Something doesn't quite add up.
Hours become days. Old objects carry dates. Memories don't always seem to belong where Rowan thinks they do.
The Rootway has already taught Rowan that time doesn't behave as he expects.
Perhaps the reader shouldn't assume it does either.
Think you've spotted another one?
Good.
We're not going to tell you whether you're right.
Some breadcrumbs will be revealed within The Thorn Gate. Others lead much further into The Codex of Woodland Law.
As each book is released, return here. Some clues may change. New ones will appear. And something you dismissed several books ago may suddenly become very important.
Remember Rowan's first lesson.