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Hard by a Great Forest

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About this listen

 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up the trail of clues: strange graffiti, bewildering messages transmitted through the radio, pages from his father’s unpublished manuscript scattered like breadcrumbs.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 Family Life Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political
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Set against the enchanting backdrop of Georgia, this book illuminates the power of responsibility, guilt, empathy, and love in forging bonds that withstand the tests of time. Leo deftly weaves together the lives of diverse characters, each grappling with their own challenges and triumphs. Yet, through shared experiences and acts of kindness, they discover a common thread that binds them together – the profound realisation that we are all interconnected, and our actions ripple outward, shaping the world around us.

Son’s quest to track down his father and he finds much more…

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A hard listen at times, I enjoyed recognising the places, events and familiar Georgian traditions. The occasional dark humour was well placed. The actor read the book very well and it was a great idea to replace the Georgian dialects with British ones (since the book was written and read in English).

Enjoyed the references to Georgian places and traditions

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Get it; you won’t regret it. Can’t wait for anything else by Vardiashvili to come out.

Great writing. Great story.

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Completely drawn in by story telling, landscape descriptors and incredible characters. Audible performance also could not be faulted, so engrossed I had to put life on hold!

Incredible narrative, utterly enthralling

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Showed us the pain of leaving home and returning to memories, and family - given and found

Wonderful narration, utterly poignant story

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