3.0
The Story of the Forest
ByPublisher Description
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize • A Parade Best Book of the Year • A Paste Most Anticipated Historical Fiction for Fall
“[Sarah Jessica Parker] is curating as a publisher some of the most beautiful novels that I read. And this one, in love with it. Don't miss it.” ―Adriana Trigiani, You Are What You Read
“Romance, tragedy, war, the horrors of the pogroms, business dynasties, and more make this closely observed novel inspired somewhat by Grant’s family story into a page turner.” —Parade
It’s 1913 when Mina, the young and carefree daughter of a Jewish merchant, roams into a forest on the edge of the Baltic Sea looking for mushrooms. Instead, she encounters a gang of unruly, charismatic Bolsheviks—an adventure that will become the stuff of familial lore for generations to come. Intending to save her from further corruption, and in an act that forever changes the trajectory of their family’s life, Mina and her eldest brother, Jossel, board a ship to England.
There the threat of a different war looms large. When WWI hits, Jossel is sent to the front, where he keeps a severely wounded soldier in his unit alive ‘til morning by telling him tales—including that his sister Mina will marry him if he survives. The soldier lives and asks for Mina’s hand, their marriage uniting two growing trade dynasties. But over time Mina and Jossel will learn that not everyone in their family has survived the wars and pogroms, even as they and their offspring struggle to build new lives in Liverpool in the midst of ever-shifting discriminations.
Based on the author’s own family history and legends, The Story of the Forest is a remarkable record of family lore; a meditation on the power of stories to ground us, particularly in the face of life’s inevitable losses, told with a keen wit and a sharp eye to the charms and the foibles of family by masterful British novelist Linda Grant.
“[Sarah Jessica Parker] is curating as a publisher some of the most beautiful novels that I read. And this one, in love with it. Don't miss it.” ―Adriana Trigiani, You Are What You Read
“Romance, tragedy, war, the horrors of the pogroms, business dynasties, and more make this closely observed novel inspired somewhat by Grant’s family story into a page turner.” —Parade
It’s 1913 when Mina, the young and carefree daughter of a Jewish merchant, roams into a forest on the edge of the Baltic Sea looking for mushrooms. Instead, she encounters a gang of unruly, charismatic Bolsheviks—an adventure that will become the stuff of familial lore for generations to come. Intending to save her from further corruption, and in an act that forever changes the trajectory of their family’s life, Mina and her eldest brother, Jossel, board a ship to England.
There the threat of a different war looms large. When WWI hits, Jossel is sent to the front, where he keeps a severely wounded soldier in his unit alive ‘til morning by telling him tales—including that his sister Mina will marry him if he survives. The soldier lives and asks for Mina’s hand, their marriage uniting two growing trade dynasties. But over time Mina and Jossel will learn that not everyone in their family has survived the wars and pogroms, even as they and their offspring struggle to build new lives in Liverpool in the midst of ever-shifting discriminations.
Based on the author’s own family history and legends, The Story of the Forest is a remarkable record of family lore; a meditation on the power of stories to ground us, particularly in the face of life’s inevitable losses, told with a keen wit and a sharp eye to the charms and the foibles of family by masterful British novelist Linda Grant.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Story of the Forest Reviews
3.0
“I was surprised by this book which turned out to be more entertaining than the title suggests. While the story of the forest becomes a little long in the tooth, Grant’s style and portrait of Jewish life is entertaining and funny at times. The story lasts longer than it really needs to, but all in all, the characters move the action and are interesting as they grow and change.”
“An interesting book!! I really enjoyed the first part, and the latter part - it felt a bit lost in the middle.”
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book but it wasn’t that. The beginning started out strong and I think it ended really nicely as well, but the middle part felt like it went too far off track. The pacing was a little strange and I really didn’t like how so many events were said to have happened rather than shown to us. There were big chunks of explaining what happened in that last 20 or so years rather than it being sprinkled in. While the middle part threw me off, the conclusion definitely saved my opinion of this book. Once we returned to Mina in her old age rather than focusing on Paula everything started to come full circle.
I have a lot of thoughts about this book that are more intellectual in nature but it is really late so I can’t find the right words, but this book was very thought provoking.”
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