A hidden valley at golden hour, a carriage on a country road, and a centaur beneath an ancient oak

A middle-grade fantasy series

Countryside

You have a power within you — the same power that fills that building, that keeps that tree alive, and that has attracted your attention.

For fans of Narnia, The Hobbit, and Percy Jackson

A hidden town. An ancient book. A boy from Texas.

Atmospheric art for The Book of the Wise

Book One · 2013

The Book of the Wise

★★★★☆ · 4.3 on Amazon

Eleven-year-old Luke Rayburn has never seen a skyline without skyscrapers. When his father leaves for military service, Luke is taken through a traveling tunnel to Countryside — where centaurs roam, wraiths slip among the trees, and a forgotten book will decide the fate of the world.

Atmospheric art for The Tears of Adina

Book Two · 2015

The Tears of Adina

★★★★★ · 4.6 on Amazon

Luke returns from summer on the coast to find Countryside changed: gnomes sowing chaos, a lone wolf in the woods, a mermaid for a teacher — and a hunter with golden eyes who will burn the valley to get what he wants.

“A truly American Harry Potter.”
Amber Forbes

Why families keep coming back

Wonder without cynicism

Dryads, centaurs, mermaids, and a traveling tunnel — a magical world that still believes in courtesy, courage, and good grown-ups.

Light against the dark

The series is clean middle-grade adventure with a Christian heartbeat: a boy learning that the power in him is real, and that some things, once done, cannot be undone.

Written for 8–12, loved by adults

Kirkus called Book One a “solid introduction to a potentially vast magical world,” and Book Two “the glimmering continuation of a detailed, emotionally rich saga.”

The author

J.T. Cope IV

Born in Texas and raised on century-old family land in Wheelock, J.T. is a Marine, a geologist, a husband, and a father of three daughters. The first notes for Countryside were written in 2006 after he returned from Iraq — at a small table in the back of a coffee shop.

He now lives in Texas and also hosts The American Soul, a daily podcast of Scripture, American history, and the Christian roots of the republic.

Meet the author
Oak tree growing from an open book