Hard by a Great Forest

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Hard by a Great Forest

By: Leo Vardiashvili

Narrated by: Luke Thompson

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Summary

Bloomsbury presents Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili, read by Luke Thompson.

* AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST FOR 2024 *
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE 2024 *

‘A spellbinding achievement’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘Poignant and often painfully comic’ OBSERVER
‘I gasped, laughed, and wept my way through it’ KHALED HOSSEINI
‘Hugely impressive’ NEW EUROPEAN
‘Novels like this might help light the way’ GUARDIAN
'At once a puzzle hunt and an affecting meditation on exile' ECONOMIST

Tbilisi’s littered with memories that await me like landmines. The dearly departed voices I silenced long ago have come back without my permission. The situation calls for someone with a plan. I didn’t even bring toothpaste.

Saba’s father is missing, and the trail leads back to Tbilisi, Georgia.

It’s been two decades since Irakli fled his war-torn homeland with two young sons, now grown men. Two decades since he saw their mother, who stayed so they could escape. At long last, Tbilisi has lured him home. But when Irakli’s phone calls stop, a mystery begins...

Arriving in the city as escaped zoo animals prowl the streets, Saba picks up the trail of clues: strange graffiti, bewildering messages transmitted through the radio, pages from his father’s unpublished manuscript scattered like breadcrumbs. As the voices of those left behind pull at the edges of his world, Saba will discover that all roads lead back to the past, and to secrets swallowed up by the great forests of Georgia.

In a winding pursuit through the magic and mystery of returning to a lost homeland, Hard by a Great Forest is a rare, searching tale of home, memory and sacrifice – of one family’s mission to rescue one another, and put the past to rest.©2024 Leo Vardiashvili (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Leo VardiashviliLuke ThompsonBloomsbury Publishing

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The only reason I am not rating this book 5 stars is because it is too brutal and broke my heart many times over but if that was the aim, this book and this story did their job! Saba’s story is harrowing, with little lighthearted humour woven through and very little light at the end of the tunnel but I am grasping that tiny light and holding tight and hoping for better days for Saba and little Ketino! With references to old fairy tales such as Hansel & Gretel and Brother Grimm as well as Shakespeare, Hard by a Forest Green had me grinning, clutching at my chest and crying in parts. Stories about war, loss, grief, loss of identity, no real sense of where “home” is always hit me differently! X