North Woods by the American writer, Daniel Mason is a wonderful, spellbinding novel written in a variety of literary styles, from prose to letters to poems and songs, including cleverly placed illustrations and photographs of natural landscape and artistic expression. It is a tale of one country, the Unites States of America, told through the history of one single plot of land in Western Massachusetts. Its narrative spans hundreds of years and traverses a plethora of multifaceted characters occupying the land in the beautiful woods of New England.
Told in twelve stories, North Woods is also an ode to the connection between the nature and human existence. This novel can be interpreted as a tale of constant change, people come and go, one single plot of land is being inhabited by various people with their own daily challenges, with their existence being shaped by the cycles of natural world. It is a kaleidoscope of the individual and the collective, of a complex and vivid history of the humanity over the centuries.
Mason’s prose is enchanting, so rich and mesmerising, his art of storytelling is intricate with one of the best descriptions of nature I have ever encountered. The way he illustrates the beauty of changing seasons, especially the arrival of autumn is so vivid:
“Colours change. Yellow creeps down from the mountain and slips into the veins of the hornbeams, red limns the oaks and maples, and in the understory, violet consumes the lemon-yellow wings of the viburnum. Leaves fall upon the brook that splits the hillside like a tear in the fabric of the earth.“
Reading North Woods has been one of the most pleasant and charming experiences I have had in the recent years. It is a book I was reading in the evenings, just before going to sleep which was like a balm for my soul and tired mind. North Woods seems such a wonderful read, especially during autumn months or whenever one needs a warm hug and a cosy blanket.
The story of North Woods starts with the Indian and French wars, with a Puritan couple fleeing their colony which would give the beginning to the succession of inhabitants on one plot of land over the course of next centuries. We meet an English major, Charles Osgood who devoted himself to his apple orchard and wished he came to the woods sooner. He found his corner of the world on this land and felt uncomfortable with politics or expressing his allegiances during the times he lived. Following Charles’s death his daughters Alice and Mary took over the cabin and their father’s orchard. They never married, and lived an isolated life which was not in accordance with the social norms of the era they lived in. Their story gives us a glimpse into a life of the single and older women of the past centuries and how hard it was for them to live according to their own rules, wants and wishes. We then meet a painter, William Henry Teale who is dealing with the complications of the unrequited love for his friend, Erasmus Nash. This plot of land in New England offered him peace and solitude. We also meet his nurse, an older woman called Ana who looked after him in the later part of his life and we learn about her connection to the plot of land. Again, through Ana’s life we witness the position of the older, single women within the society at a different time to when Alice and Mary lived. Contemporarily, we meet an older mother, Lilian and her son, Robert who suffers from mental health challenges. This story depicts the societal attitudes towards people with mental health problems and how unfairly they had been treated not only by the society but also by medical professionals, often experiencing abuse at the hands of those who should care for them. We then meet a crime reporter, and finally the ghosts of the past and the present who inhabit this little plot of land.
North Woods is a tale of a constant change, interlinking the past, the present with the future. All humanity has its place on this land, as well as nature and animals. With every new inhabitant the cabin gets its own modern amenities and new improvements. People like William did not want to remove anything from the land or cabin as he felt the presence of the previous owners. He felt a sort of affection for the ghosts of Charles, Alice and Mary, and preserving that past was important to him.
All the characters we meet throughout the centuries seek some form of solitude, peace and calming presence in this corner of the world in New England. They either run away from something like sadness, unrequited love, complicated family dynamics, war and politics, social norms, lack of tolerance or look for a new way of life. Regardless of the times they live in their existence always evolves around the cycles of seasons.
With death of every inhabitant, the cabin usually becomes empty, unclaimed, neglected for some time before welcoming another occupant. This plot of land had been cleared then abandoned, cleared and abandoned again.
Items left behind by every inhabitant lose their meaning with the cessation of a life to which the given item belonged; the vast world of significance is lost. The items are stripped of their meaning once their owners die; only the superficial meaning remains but not memories and feelings associated with the items.
North Woods is about the interconnectedness of the natural world and humanity, the constant regeneration of the land, with generations of people come and go, with each of them leaving their imprints and legacy on the land. The same applies to trees, plants and animals who have lived on this land alongside the humans North Woods poses a question of what remains of us after we are gone from this life.
I highly recommend this novel. Reading North Woods has been such a calming reading experience for me.
