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To the Forest

By Anas Barbeau-Lavalette
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.67 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 2,849 ratings, 272 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
To the Forest by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette is a compelling narrative exploring themes of family, nature, and introspection. The story centres around a mother who retreats with her children into the forest, seeking solace and healing away from the chaos of city life. As they delve into the serene yet challenging environment, the characters confront personal struggles, discover profound connections, and gain fresh perspectives on their lives.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate stories that delve into the complexities of family ties and personal discovery within evocative natural settings. It's a great choice for readers who love narratives that explore human connections and the impact of our environment on our lives.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

CBC BOOKS WORKS OF CANADIAN FICTION TO READ IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2023

49th SHELF EDITORS' PICK FOR JUNE 2023

When a family is forced to return to the mother's childhood home, she seeks meaning in her ancestral roots and the violent beauty of the natural world.

Fleeing the city at the beginning of the pandemic, two families are cramped together in a small century-old country house. Winter seeps through the walls, the wallpaper is peeling, and mice make their nest in the piano. Without phones or internet, they turn to the outdoors, where a new language unfolds, a language of fireflies and clover.

The five children explore nature and its treasures, while our narrator, Anas, turns to the eccentric neighbours and her own family history to find peace and meaning in the middle of her life.

To the Forest is a field guide to a quieter life, a call to return to the places where we can reweave the threads of memory, where existence waltzes with death, where we can recapture what it means to be alive.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Barbeau-Lavalette's To the Forest is praised for its poetic exploration of themes such as interconnectedness, grief, growth, and rebirth in the context of nature and climate change. Reviewers highlight the novel's literary talent, emotional depth, and engaging narrative style, celebrating its ability to capture ordinary and magical moments in a familial and natural setting. The story is described as an exquisite blend of autobiography and imagination, revealing the delicate balance of love, death, and resilience.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781552454633

Publisher: Coach House Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 August 2023

Country: Canada

Imprint: Coach House Books

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Translated by Rhonda Mullins

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 133.0mm

Height: 209.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 200

Collections

Anas Barbeau-Lavalette Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction

About the Author

Born in 1979, and named an Artist for Peace in 2012, Anas Barbeau-Lavalette has directed several award-winning documentary features. She also directed two fiction features: Le Ring (2008) and Inch'allah (2012), which received the Fipresci Prize in Berlin. She is the author of the travelogue Embrasser Yasser Arafat (2011) and the novels Je voudrais qu'on m'efface (Neighbourhood Watch) and the international bestseller Le femme qui fuit (Suzanne), Prix des libraires du Quebec, Prix France-Quebec, Prix de la ville de Montreal, and shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award and Canada Reads.

Rhonda Mullins is a Montreal-based translator who has translated many books from French into English, including Jocelyne Saucier's And Miles To Go Before I Sleep, Gregoire Courtois' The Laws of the Skies, Dominique Fortier's Paper Houses, and Anas Barbeau-Lavalette's Suzanne. She is a seven-time finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Translation, winning the award in 2015 for her translation of Jocelyne Saucier's Twenty-One Cardinals. Novels she has translated were contenders for CBC Canada Reads in 2015 and 2019 and one was a finalist for the 2018 Best Translated Book Award. Mullins was the inaugural literary translator in residence at Concordia University in 2018. She is a mentor to emerging translators in the Banff International Literary Translation Program.

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