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The Story of the Forest: Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2023

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There is definitely something unique about this book’s take on the grand historical novel. Its brevity is at once a frustration (especially for someone who loves a deep dive into the intersection of personal stories with bigger moments in history) and the thing that sets it apart. In that, it reminded me very slightly of Penelope Lively’s excellent Booker winner Moon Tiger , another short book in which the telling of one woman’s life story leaves precious little room for those grander narratives of the past century. So begins a journey that sees Mina and her older brother Jossel leaving their family for the New World. They make it as far as Liverpool before an unexpected marriage, the outbreak of World War I, and a second marriage proposal get in the way of their American Dream, and the book then follows them and their descendants as they navigate life in twentieth-century Britain. The end of the novel does little to tie up the many threads created, instead emphasising the complexity of family history, even before the grand narrative of the twentieth century is taken into account. A younger descendant in the modern day begins to explore the Mendel family history, and even some of the foundational stories that have been threaded through the book are called into question. History is presented as a shifting thing, a collection of stories we tell each other that help us get through difficult and complex times but never point to a definitive truth.

The novel follows the lives of several characters over the course of several decades, from the early 1900s to the present day. Through their stories, Grant explores the ways in which Liverpool’s Jewish community was shaped by the political and cultural forces of the 20th century, from the rise of socialism and the labor movement to the impact of World War II and the changing attitudes towards sexuality and gender.

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Linda Grant's novel follows the story of a Jewish family over nearly a century from Riga to Liverpool and London. The novel begins in 1913 with the titular 'story of the forest': 14-year-old Mina Mendel collecting mushrooms in the forest, 'like a child in a fairytale', where an encounter with some Bolsheviks will cause Mina and her brother Jossel to leave Latvia heading for New York. This yarn is repeated, distorted and increasingly disbelieved over successive generations, like many of the other stories told by different members of the family.

And those characters do, indeed, develop and change as the novel progresses. I found myself rapidly warming to Mina and her family, and becoming genuinely invested in their story. As Jewish immigrants, we follow them as they gradually assimilate into British life and culture whilst also remaining at the periphery of it, forever connected with their past and the homeland they left behind. The novel also takes in the pogroms and wars in Latvia, and the devastating effect that this had upon the Jewish community. The family’s story also touches upon several other major geo-political events, with younger brother Itzik (very much the villian of this fairy story) cropping up in an unusual – and controversial – position later on in the book. Family stories can be heartwarming and sweet. However, usually this is because they’re part of your history and they fondly remind you of your ancestors. Someone else’s story isn’t always as interesting. In the years after the Second World War, Mina and Jossel learn what happened to the rest of their family – inevitably some met with tragedy. Meanwhile, Mina’s daughter, Paula, almost escapes her predetermined future – “a good Jewish daughter, destined to become a good Jewish wife and a good Jewish mother” – when she moves to London. There she meets Itzik who turns up, like a bad penny – “an official snitch” for the Soviet Union – and continues to attempt to destabilise the family. A young girl sets out on a journey, the story begins. The adventurer will confront many hardships and difficulties. She will reclaim her lost inheritance. She will recapture the castle. But this is not true. In folk tales, young girls never set out on a journey or a quest, they are passive, they are waiting, and in later years, Paula would admit, she had been waiting, and this was how her story started. The adventure leads to flight, emigration and a new land, a new language and the pursuit of idealism or happiness – in Liverpool. But what of the stories from the old country; how do they shape and form the next generations who have heard the well-worn tales?

You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. One of the most excitingly unforeseen results of starting this book blog was being invited to travel to Riga and discover more about current Latvian literature. My great grandfather was born in Latvia and moved to the US to avoid being conscripted into the army during WWI. My family has always been proud of that Latvian heritage and traveling there was a longterm goal so it was a thrill to finally experience life in Riga and connect with a cousin I've never met. I made a video about that experience which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5HHP5AfG1k

But the question the book asks – as per the opening quote to my review – is why there are no heroine equivalents of these folkloric legends.

Fiction

The threads of the rest of the novel begin to splinter, but are most clearly focused on the lives of Mina and her family in suburban Liverpool. The century skips past briskly, with the hardship and horrors most likely endured by the Latvian Mendels largely left to our imagination. The Liverpool strand of the family endures incidences of pernicious racism, but their concerns on a day to day basis are largely more mundane ones, of family and community. At the heart of the novel is Mina, a young woman who dreams of a different life than the one her parents have planned for her. Through her experiences, we see the ways in which the immigrant narrative is carefully crafted and remade over time, as individuals and communities adapt to new circumstances and changing cultural norms. The adventure leads to flight, emigration and a new land, a new language and the pursuit of idealism or happiness - in Liverpool. But what of the stories from the old country; how do they shape and form the next generations who have heard the well-worn tales?

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information. The travel via England but their onwards passage to America is stalled (and then postponed indefinitely) by pecuniary and global circumstances (Jossel has no money and war breaks out) – note that the ideas of thwarted ambitions, of uncompleted or failed journeys and of the passage of time turning interim half-hearted states at odds with an ultimate goal into permanent ones, are all ones that recur across the novel. In most folktales it is intrepid young men who set out on a journey. Grant subverts this expectation, using the bids for freedom of Mina and later Paula as the catalysts for her narrative. Weaving together the personal and political to great effect, The Story of the Forest is a tale that encompasses most of the 20th century, touching on enduring themes of displacement, survival and the search for personal fulfilment.The novel’s language evolves with the period it covers, from the simple language of a folk tale to the coolly wry prose of a mid-century novelist, such as Elizabeth Taylor, and then to a looser, more dialogue-heavy style as social conventions ease, marriages break down, and Valium is ratcheted to a frightening roar. Throughout the novel, the characters concern themselves with the ordinary preoccupations of ordinary people: they marry, acquire homes and businesses, have children, and let those children go. They anglicize their names and slowly, over generations, become more integrated into English society. A grain merchant’s family uproot themselves from their life in Riga and are scattered. Like seeds on the wind, some will make it to fertile ground and others will find themselves in inhospitable terrain, or buffeted here and there by unpredictable currents, some destructive, some surprisingly helpful. Linda Grant’s ninth novel continues her exploration of how chance, contingency and unintended consequences intersect with history’s larger movements; how personal narratives are shaped not merely by what we think of as inescapable forces and events, but by moments of randomness and whimsy. Her characters are, as ever, mobile not only in a geographical sense, but in the way that their desires and motivations shift and adapt, influenced by memories of the past and intimations of the future. And from there we follow the story of Mina and her extended family over several generations through to the present day – the family gradually assimilating into English culture (moving to the suburbs from a Jewish district, changing their names – even in the case of another key character Mina’s daughter Paula adopting a BBC RP style of speech which takes her to London and to work with a small film studio) while also never really being fully part of it. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial.

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