Bookseller Reviews
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Back to the Old House
One of those books that comes at you like a bolt from the blue. This is an exceptional novel that tells the story of the different occupants of a house in ... READ MORE
A pure polyphonic marvel about the many futures of the past
Captivating, joyous, and at times violently melancholy, Daniel Mason's breathtaking narrative about a remote house in Massachusetts and its residents acros... READ MORE
Up there with Best Novels of the Year.
Well, I liked that. I liked that a lot. Such a clever, interconnected story. Another one to file under the modern vogue for novels that are in fact a serie... READ MORE
This book whisked me up in a tornado of apples, golden leaves, and poetic tragedy.
Thank you to authors like Daniel Mason who have made me realise I actually am a literary fiction reader. After reading this book I am firmly in Autumn. Thi... READ MORE
Changing and Changed By the Woods
This is one of those books that sinks in slowly before coming full circle. Set in the same expanse of ancient woods with a constantly crumbling and rebuilt... READ MORE
An intriguing journey through time
Without a doubt the best book I've read this year – I wish I could read this again from a blank slate!
This book is an absolutely brilliant read. Its intr... READ MORE
One of the best books I've read this year, hence a rare 5 star.
This is a remarkable book. It's structure is a series of stories set over a time span of more than a hundred years. The author is clever enough to give yo... READ MORE
Rapturous, moving and eternal.
An incredible book. It is a true epic of life, death, nature, history, succession and reclamation. Told in many voices and styles, we follow hundreds of ye... READ MORE
My choice for book of the year
This is the best book (out of 42) that I’ve read this year, and the one I’ll be bulk buying to give to everyone as a gift.
It doesn’t sound much to say i... READ MORE
A beautiful journey through people, place and time.
A wonderful mix of stories, all centred around the North woods of New England. We see families, animals, frauds, artists and the inevitable passing of time... READ MORE
Wow!
Wow, wow, wow! What a stunning book North Woods is. I have just finished reading and I cannot recommend enough.
Spanning four centuries of inhabitants a... READ MORE
My favourite read of 2023
North Woods is a marvel. It is haunting, lyrical, wryly comic, and handled with real poise. Each inhabitant of the plot of Massachusetts land is fully real... READ MORE
Haunting in every sense of the word. A book that will stay with you.
A truly original book with a sweep of imagination and poetry that grips the reader and leads them forward through time. The story is anchored by a place, a... READ MORE
A joy of language, nature and our symbiotic existence with it
Time, place, connection - with ourselves, in the land we inhabit and how we impact the land directly and indirectly.
Daniel Mason's most recent literary... READ MORE
You need this book in your life!
I love this book beyond words. Oh my goodness what an astonishing writer. I love the story of the different people who inhabit this cottage in the woods. T... READ MORE
Breathtaking
Finishing this novel feels like I've emerged from nature. It's as if something has been implanted in me - like a lingering soul.
North Woods is astound... READ MORE
The perfect autumnal read
There's nothing I love more in autumn than curling up with a slightly creepy, ghostly book with gorgeous writing and this book delivered! It spans centurie... READ MORE
Enchanting
‘North Woods’ is a fascinating and unique novel, with a structure that links short stories by their shared location. The use of nature writing further acce... READ MORE
North Woods
I was surprised by how easily this book flowed. Initially I expected to enjoy some but not all of the stories set around one house over hundreds of years, ... READ MORE
Puzzled
am really not sure why to make of this book, seems to be a lot of short stories patched together with a plot if land as its centre, then is it a ghost stor... READ MORE
A Masterpiece
I've really struggled to find fiction that I've enjoyed this year, but low and behold, 9 months in to 2024, this book saved me from a dramatic reading slum... READ MORE
Stay where you are and move through time
What a cleverly woven book! Set on the same spot but spanning centuries. Sometimes very subtle, sometimes less subtle nuggets link each and every story - s... READ MORE
A spellbinding, original novel of a single house in the woods of New England, home to a vibrant cast of characters over four centuries, each with a story to tell. A book that reminds us to teach life as the miracle that it is.
Synopsis
Four centuries. A single house deep in the woods of New England.
A young Puritan couple on the run. An English soldier with a fantastic vision. Inseparable twin sisters. A lovelorn painter and a lusty beetle. A desperate mother and her haunted son. A ruthless con man and a stalking panther. Buried secrets. Madness, dreams and hope.
All are connected. The dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.
Exhilarating, daring and playful, North Woods will change the way you see the world.
Publisher information
- Publisher: John Murray Press
- ISBN: 9781399809306
- Number of pages: 384
- Dimensions: 196 x 128 x 34 mm
- Weight: 309g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allSimply wonderful..
The year hasn’t ended yet but I’ve found the best book of the year already, Daniel Mason’s wonderful novel ‘North Woods’.
Everything starts on the month... READ MORE
Captivating historical novel
An engaging book that focuses on the occupants of one specific patch of land in New England. Mason has created a series of interlocking narratives that foc... READ MORE
A truly special novel
What an extraordinary book! I've never read anything like it and a few days later, I'm still thinking so much about it.
The story covers a house built in ... READ MORE
Enchanting
I loved this book. A strange and magical (in all senses of the word) history of a house and land in rural Massachusetts that takes different viewpoints and... READ MORE
Disjointed
I was disappointed by this book sadly. I had read a review of it and thought it would be interesting. I found some of the chapters engaging but others I fo... READ MORE
Wonderful characters tell the story of North Woods over time. I loved it.
North Woods is an amazing book with such a wealth of wonderful characters who I am sure I will remember for a long time. The writing is excellent with bril... READ MORE
A Haunting Study of the Ephemeral
I absolutely loved this book. It was beautifully written, gripping and full of surprises. What began as an account of the people over the centuries who liv... READ MORE
A unique story
I loved this book! Gentle storytelling but full of imagery and creative connections between the characters and stories. I loved that it told the story of t... READ MORE
Well written
This was a well written book and I enjoyed the changes in style and time.
However, I did find it quite hard to engage with the trajectory and wanted to spe... READ MORE
Complex, interesting and unique
I wanted to LOVE this book, and I did very much enjoy it, but for some reason, I couldn't quite get completely into it.
It's made up of many different sto... READ MORE
Just captivating
Well, how is it possible to paint a picture in words to honor such a mesmerizing book? The novel drew me in from the first few words, and I was instantly i... READ MORE
A very special novel
"North Woods" is a very special novel. I wasn't sure how I felt about it initially - I hadn't read anything about the plot before I started and found it a ... READ MORE
Step into the house
Several different stories but all inextricably linked by an old, sometime crumbling, yellow house deep within a wood. All of their stories are different b... READ MORE
North Woods
North Woods tells the story of an area of land in Oakfield, America as it changes over time. From early settlers to present day; the people who inhabit thi... READ MORE
Wonderful wide ranging tale
A, dizzying account of man’s connection to the natural world, successes, disappointments, life and death in a rural part of New England and the people who ... READ MORE
Astonishing, inventive story of a piece of land
North Woods is a magnum opus if ever there was one. Daniel Mason is a masterful storyteller and a magnificent prose stylist. His glorious descriptions of n... READ MORE
Taking the long view of a microcosm of history creates Wood's spellbinding tale
I grew up very near the setting of this wonderful book so it was doubly fascnating to me. Lots of historical fiction uses the perspective of a single famil... READ MORE
An extraordinary walk through the woods !
This impressive novel features a yellow house located in woodland in Massachusetts. It moves through generations who live in or have something to do with ... READ MORE
At its best its great but it is patchy
The remote woods in the north of Massachusetts, a place where history has shown its cycle. A young puritan couple on the run make a home, later a young wo... READ MORE
A stunning novel of a house and its transient occupants
I love comparing and contrasting book jackets for different regions. Here, in the UK, we have a portrait of one of the lovely Osgood girls holding an apple... READ MORE
A wonderful, poetical read which celebrates what it means to be human.
North Woods’ is a beautifully constructed novel. Set in New England, it pays tribute to the power and endurance of the natural world, the imaginings and c... READ MORE
Amazing Book
An absolutely amazing book which I loved. Easily my book of the year so far. Beginning with a small part of a North American forest, which becomes the loc... READ MORE
Astonishing, Inventive Story of a Piece of Land
North Woods is a magnum opus if ever there was one. Daniel Mason is a masterful storyteller and a magnificent prose stylist. His glorious descriptions of n... READ MORE
North woods
"North Woods" by Daniel Mason is a captivating exploration of nature and the human experience. The novel's vivid descriptions transport readers to the lush... READ MORE
A story of intrigue
The Story of North Wood is set over four centuries in a wood cabin in North Massachusetts with heavily descriptive text did make it a little hard to get i... READ MORE
Captivating historical fiction
Daniel Mason's North Woods is a captivating historical fiction that weaves a rich tapestry of stories through centuries. The novel's exploration of a singl... READ MORE
Simply enchanting!
Flipping heck! I’m just readjusting from being pulled sideways through a literary undergrowth. North Woods is the reason why I’m bleary-eyed today after ha... READ MORE
Wonderful imagining of the history of a home
Quite an amazing novel. The history of a house, a place with the people almost playing second fiddle.
This is a wonderful imagined history of a home in th... READ MORE
Tales of Change
My favorite rendezvous with a book this year, I was completely unprepared for the affair. 400 years' worth of life for a plot of land– the people, the anim... READ MORE
Lyrical and a joy to read
Daniel Mason takes us deep into a tract of Massachusetts woodland with an array of people who dwell there in a yellow house for months or years, inhabitin... READ MORE
An entertaining epic of backwoods New England through the centuries
I really enjoyed this book: it covers four centuries through the eyes of the various inhabitants of an isolated house buried deep in the woods of New Engla... READ MORE
Rather rubbish
Poorly written. Very disjointed and ultimately deflating. I had to will myself to finish it. Don’t be hoodwinked by the hype. Honestly, you’ll never get th... READ MORE
North Woods by Daniel Mason
Captivating! Beautifully written interwoven stories spanning several centuries unfold with intrigue and humour. The detailed descriptions of their woods an... READ MORE
Interesting at times but not captivating for me
I found it difficult to start this book due to the old language and phrasing of the first characters. I liked the premise of the book and the way some cha... READ MORE
Book club wild card which I loved.
I haven't finished the book yet, just a few chapters to go and what can I say other than wow! This is so different to the usual type of book I read but I a... READ MORE
Well written and entertaining
A very good read, well written and entertaining, good to follow the house and its occupants through the years.
Beautiful.
I felt genuinely lost when I finished this- what a beautiful book. I’m a huge Joseph O’Connor fan and this reminded me a lot of his poetic, detail-orientat... READ MORE
North Woods by Daniel Mason
North Woods by Daniel Mason is a whimsical story of an area of land where a house/ dwelling is built and the people who live there over the years. How they... READ MORE
The first taste of this fable will have you biting through to the core!
There is something very comforting in the permanence of land when everything that happens on it is not always so reassuring. Daniel Mason had me rooted in ... READ MORE
Clever and absorbing
I have not read something as clever and absorbing as this in a long time. Not one but many stories patchworked together, it leaves you anticipating what's ... READ MORE
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