Description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2023

‘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

Publisher Review

What an amazing novel.....an epic, fascinating and moving story. The sections set in Liverpool really spoke to me having grown up there, but I loved the London chapters. Vivid storytelling with complex and colourful characters. I thought it was spectacular. * David Morrissey * Epic, magnificent, beautiful. A perfect work of art and craft and such a good story... I felt I was living it. I couldn't put it down. * Philippa Perry * I'm not sure it could ever be possible to do justice to this magnificent novel in a few words: the flawless writing, wonderfully flawed characters, its epic sweep combined with a warm immediacy, indeed every page of it just bowled me over completely. I'm in awe, I'm charmed, and I want to press a copy on everyone I know. * Nigella Lawson * A major achievement... as fine as anything Linda Grant has written... maybe excelling them all * Joan Bakewell * Such an intelligent family saga, ambitious and moving and funny too... I loved it * Tessa Hadley * Epic and marvellously entertaining... Grant is a brilliant chronicler of the British-Jewish diaspora, as well as being a close observer of cities... The Story of the Forest hums with the boisterousness of family and community life... There's a furious energy to the novel, which constantly moves forward even as it looks sorrowfully back -- Catherine Taylor * Financial Times *