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by Julie Carrick Dalton
The perfect choice for your next book club: Julie Carrick Dalton's The Forest Becomes Her is a gorgeous, hopeful novel about three women from different generations navigating the complexities of family, the impacts of our choices, and our deep connections to the natural world beneath our feet.
In historic, bucolic Concord, Massachusetts, a centuries-old forest has been removed to make way for a new, eco-friendly housing development. The locals are upset by the destruction, but out-of-towners like Hazel Stoddard are flocking to put down roots in their new guilt-free dream homes.
Soon a tragedy leaves Hazel unmoored in her new life, and she begins to feel the pull of the absent forest. Hazel is not alone―her neighbors, real estate agent Stella Flint and teenage environmentalist Polly Bauer, each have their own traumas and their own relationship to the land. The three women are drawn together to save the last remaining oak tree, or they risk losing themselves to lingering shadows that only they can see.
In The Forest Becomes Her, Julie Carrick Dalton brings hope and reverence to this lush celebration of multigenerational female relationships, the ever-evolving female form, humanity's connection to our changing world, and the mysteries that still exist in nature.
"Poignant … with its blend of magical realism, emotional resonance, and themes of female empowerment, this will appeal to fans of Charlotte McConaghy and Emilia Hart." —Booklist
"A lush, lyrical exploration of sisterhood, rage, and the sacred ties between women and the wild. Blending beauty and depth, book clubs will find plenty to untangle in this urgent and moving tale." ―Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Amalfi Curse and The Lost Apothecary
"The Forest Becomes Her is a lush, aching meditation on loss, transformation, and the quiet power of women who refuse to be quiet. Julie Carrick Dalton has conjured a landscape that remembers everything ― and gives us characters we won't soon forget." ―Lily Brooks-Dalton, national bestselling author of The Light Pirate
This information about The Forest Becomes Her was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
As a journalist, Julie Carrick Dalton has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, Orion Magazine, Electric Literature, and other publications. A former beekeeper and organic farmer, she is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of climate crisis and is a member of the teaching faculty at Drexel University's MFA Program. When she isn't reading, writing, or teaching, you can probably find her skiing, swimming, kayaking, working in her garden, or trying to keep track of her four children and two dogs.
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