The Story of the Forest
Linda Grant
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2023
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Release Date: 06/06/2024
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2023
From the award-winning novelist, a vibrant imagining of the tumultuous world of early twentieth-century Europe through the eyes of Mina, a young girl whose adventures begin in a deep dark forest.
'Epic and marvellously entertaining. There's a furious energy to the novel, which constantly moves forward even as it looks sorrowfully back'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'Magnificent. I want to press a copy on everyone I know'
NIGELLA LAWSON
'Epic, magnificent, beautiful. I couldn't put it down'
PHILIPPA PERRY
'Jewel-like clarity. exceptional'
RICHARD COLES
'Exquisite writing [and] a triumphant, elegant ending'
MAIL ON SUNDAY
'An intelligent family saga. ambitious and moving and funny'
TESSA HADLEY
It's 1913 and a young, carefree and recklessly innocent girl, Mina, goes out into the forest on the edge of the Baltic sea and meets a gang of rowdy young men with revolution on their minds. It sounds like a fairy tale but it's life.
The adventure leads to flight, emigration and a new land, a new language and the pursuit of idealism or happiness - in Liverpool. But what of the stories from the old country; how do they shape and form the next generations who have heard the well-worn tales?
From the flour mills of Latvia to Liverpool suburbia to post-war Soho, The Story of the Forest is about myths and memory and about how families adapt in order to survive. It is a story full of the humour and wisdom we have come to relish from this wonderful writer.
Orwell Prize for Political Fiction Award Ceremony - 22 June 2023