Daniel Mason is the author of The Piano Tuner, A Far Country, The Winter Soldier, and A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His work has been translated into twenty-eight languages, adapted for opera and the stage, and awarded, among others, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a California Book Award, an O. Henry Prize, and a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is an assistant professor in the Stanford University department of psychiatry.
“Dazzling . . . a brave and original book, which invents its own
form. It is both intimate and epic, playful and serious. To read it
is to travel to the limits of what the novel can do.”—The Guardian
(US)
“A time-spanning, genre-blurring work of storytelling magic . . .
Each chapter germinates its own form while sending out tendrils
that entwine beneath the surface of the novel . . . As [Mason]
floats through thrillers, a bit of comic noir, erotic paranormal
fiction and other genres, it’s hard to imagine there is anything he
can’t do . . .”—The Washington Post
“Gorgeous . . . a tale of ephemerality and succession, of the way
time accrues in layers, like sedimentary soil.”—NPR
“Brilliantly combines the granularity of realism with the timeless,
shimmering allure of myth . . . Sui generis fiction . . . The
forest and the trees: Mason keeps both in clear view in his
eccentric and exhilarating novel.”—The New York Times Book
Review
“It seems almost a magic trick, the way in which Mason knits his
lives into a single tale.”—Erica Wagner, The Sunday Times
“A treatise on forest management (and mismanagement), a
hallucinatory dream sequence, and an anthropologist’s life’s work
all rolled into one. North Woods fires on all cylinders by engaging
all the senses as it transports readers through history.”—San
Francisco Chronicle
“A tender lament for our vanishing earthly paradise. . . . it’s
hard not to come away feeling a bit wistful, seeing what we’ve lost
and imagining what lies ahead in our probably dystopian
future.”—The Boston Globe
“Enthralling . . . the bigger point of North Woods is how much is
forgotten or never known. This resonates at a time when Americans
are arguing about what version of history students should be
taught.”—The Economist
“This is . . . a cunningly contrived and beautifully intricate book
. . .”—The Scotsman
“[A] magisterial mosaic . . . Truly triumphant.”—Booklist, Starred
Review
“It’s a dazzling high-wire act—and it’s thrilling to
read . . . There are a lot of great books coming out this fall but,
if I were you, I’d start with this one.”—The Star Tribune
“North Woods is a monumental achievement of polyphony and humanity
. . . I loved it.”—Maggie O’Farrell, New York Times bestselling
author of Hamnet
“North Woods is the most original and spellbinding novel I’ve read
in ages. Mason makes bramble, brush, and orchard come alive with
the spirits of their unforgettable former inhabitants. Their lives
. . . had me glued to my seat.”—Abraham Verghese, New York Times
bestselling author of The Covenant of Water
“Ambitious, alive, and lush . . . I emerged from this book as
though from an enchanted forest, covered in leaves and changed by
what I had seen there. . . . Electrifying.”—Tess Gunty, author of
The Rabbit Hutch
“North Woods is a sui generis work of pure brilliance, an epic
written with a miniaturist’s precision. Daniel Mason has unearthed
. . . a universal story of loss and reclamation. It’s the best
book I’ve read in ages.”—Anthony Marra, author of Mercury Pictures
Presents
“Mason depicts all of [the] stories with sympathy, sensitivity, and
affectionate humor. Epic in scope and ambitious in style, this book
succeeds on all counts. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal
(starred review)
“Readers, too, will find themselves in an entrancing fictional
realm . . . Like the house at its center, a book that is
multitudinous and magical.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred
review)
“Each arc is beautifully, heartbreakingly conveyed, stitching
together subtle connections across time. This
astonishes.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“North Woods is a love poem to the human and natural history of
Western Massachusetts . . . wise, profound, chilling, carnal and
funny.”—BookPage
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