North Woods
£9.99
‘Truly outstanding’ Mail on Sunday
‘Mason teases out the joy and meaning in the sometimes small lives of his characters. North Woods has been heaped with praise and hype, and deservedly so. This is a book that treats life as a miracle and demands the proper awe from its readers’ Antonia Senior, The Times
‘This is a time-spanning, genre-blurring work of storytelling magic . . . The only constants are the land and Mason’s genius’ Washington Post
‘Daniel Mason’s latest novel is one of those rare books that truly deserves the description “spellbinding” ‘ Observer
‘A tapestry at once intimate and epic’ TLS
‘Utterly beguiling’ Scotsman
‘Extraordinary characters . . . a tour de force’ Independent, Best Books for Autumn
‘Epic . . . weaves a Cloud Atlas-style narrative of humanity under pressure and nature under threat’ Guardian, 2023’s Biggest Books
FOUR CENTURIES. A SINGLE HOUSE DEEP IN THE WOODS OF NEW ENGLAND.
A young Puritan couple on the run. An English soldier with a fantastic vision. Inseparable twin sisters. A lovelorn painter and a lusty beetle. A desperate mother and her haunted son. A ruthless con man and a stalking panther. Buried secrets. Madness, dreams and hope.
All are connected. The dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.
Exhilarating, daring and playful, NORTH WOODS will change the way you see the world.
‘A monumental achievement’ Maggie O’Farrell
‘Ambitious, alive, and lush with generosity . . . an immersive sprint through time’ Tess Gunty
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Additional information
| Publisher | John Murray (9 May 2024) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 384 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 139980930X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1399809306 |
by Kimberly G9
I love comparing and contrasting book jackets for different regions. Here, in the UK, we have a portrait of one of the lovely Osgood girls holding an apple. This drew me in straight away. In the US it seems to be a catamount lounging on the ground. So sorry for you guys in the new world, that’s not enticing in the least. It seems a poor choice given the wide scope of this beautifully glorious novel.
In North Woods we travel through time centred on a humble wood cabin built by early settlers in New England’s wilderness. Over time the cabin is added to as people come and go and events unfold within and beyond its walls. Inhabitants take a backseat to the wondrous nature of the grounds this home dwells upon and the transformation it endures with the passing of time. Written in such a beautiful way, each new owner or occupant shares a glimpse into their life, and the time in which they live, and their impact upon the house. I ate North Woods up. It was written with exquisite language reflective of the time of each chapter. Almost like linked short stories, this is a beautifully constructed novel and I will happily recommend to all and sundry. This is one of the most rich novels I have read all year. Lovely in all regards.
by T. Wood
An absolutely amazing book which I loved. Easily my book of the year so far. Beginning with a small part of a North American forest, which becomes the location for a very basic cabin, the book moves through the seasons and generations from the time of Puritan colonies towards the present day.
There are various writing styles and genres included, all beautifully written and most of the vividly drawn characters are revisited later in very satisfying ways. How the author moves through the decades, inhabitants, and seasons is seamless as is his attention to detail. His observations on the natural world are both detailed and fascinating and I wish I could read this for the first time once again.
Highly recommended.
by Plucked Highbrow
The remote woods in the north of Massachusetts, a place where history has shown its cycle. A young puritan couple on the run make a home, later a young woman kidnapped by native people tries to protect her protector. A weary soldier makes a home for his twin daughters and grows apples, an artist tries to forget his love, a mother cares for her ill son and a con-man meets his match in a catamount. Over hundreds of years a small corner of world reflects change and progress.
This is a book of huge scope even though it is focused on a very small area. The first half of the book is brilliant and I loved it but started to lose a little patience halfway with the the story of the medium. Essentially this is a series of short vignettes pieced together by a geographical place and inevitably some are better that others.
by Helen Precious
An engaging book that focuses on the occupants of one specific patch of land in New England. Mason has created a series of interlocking narratives that focus on not only the differing lives that humans live as the centuries pass, but also their relationship with the land around them. The presences that stay the longest in their timeline are those that connect to the wider world around them.
Full of captivating description of the natural landscape, North Woods, is as much a piece of nature writing as a novel in its truest sense and makes you yearn to take a trip to the area. The families, individuals and strangers that pass through the story will likewise live on once the last page is read.
by gerardpeter
This is a ghost story spanning four hundred years. It is set in a house, or rather on a plot of land, a wood in Massachusetts. It is also an elegy to nature and time, change and rebirth. Once I was hooked, I found it hard to put down. The final pages are hypnotic.
Generations pass through leaving their mark on the woods, river and meadows. A refuge for young lovers escaping Puritan intolerance, becomes in the course of time a setting with potential for an actor from New York City. We pass through the French wars, then on to the Revolution, we meet runaway slaves and then a landscape artist before a button magnate comes into occupation in the Gilded Age. His distant descendant, Robert, finds peace there from his delusions and hallucinations. The last episode relies on a motif familiar in many films and novels. I will not spoil this for the reader, except to say that in this context it is entirely fitting, offering not surprise, still less shock, but satisfaction.
Daniel Mason writes captivatingly of the soul of nature. Nature changes and is changed by society and humankind. Every animal, every tree, every leaf, every bug has a voice. And every man, woman and child – and ghost.
by AJ Brown
An absolute tour de force!
by Kindle Customer
North Woods is unlike any other book I have read before. I found myself so submerged in the words and book that I almost was there within the branches, trees and leaves. This is a book all about stories from the woods in Massachusetts told over 200 years and follows many inhabitants of the ‘yellow house’ deep in the forest. There a many beautiful descriptions of the woods and they never get repetitive or old. There are families through generations, war stories, murders and seasonal changes that we live through over the decades and centuries with amazing history. The book has a bit of everything, from poetry, lyrical language, crime reports and photographs. A great sense of history and what it was like to have lived through different years. There is a strong message of destruction that we humans are causing to the world. How beauty is often obliterated through building and nature and tree, animal and bird species are dying out and fast. I will be recommending this book to others. 4.5 stars rounded down