Daniel Mason's Magical Historic Traverse in NORTH WOODS

NORTH WOODS is an enchanting traverse through the woods in western MA that spans centuries from  early colonial days to near present day. What transpires is unhurried and unexpected stories of inhabitants of the same home and the surrounding woodlands. Each succession reads independently of the preceding story. All are enchanting and delightful in unique fashion.  Starting with a lusty young couple having abandoned their confining lives in Puritan New England to start anew on their own. Their emancipation and ardor are met with a violent demise at the hands of the "Natives". Daniel Mason is a masterful writer who depicts the land as artfully alive as his various characters. Each varying tale stands independently, yet much is gained noting the passage of time and the discoveries of relics that reveal more of what befell those who claimed the same, yellow house in the woods as home. The stories all share a profound connection with their surrounding woods. Many characters encounter a macabre demise that if not surprising, is deeply mournful. The Osgood twins is a delightful tale of sisters who resourcefully manage their father's apple orchard alone after their father enlists to fight in the Revolution.  We delight in their daily lives and devotion to one another until it becomes something more sinister. A later tale is of a painter and his illicit love for a famous writer related in an epistolary fashion through letters he composed to his male lover. The eloquence of these letters begs an answer to how they came to be found within the painter's home. The reader delights in the treasure of findings. Answers appear at later, unexpected dates becoming  all the more rewarding in their discovery.  The last story, and the most intricate is a widowed mother dealing with the anguish of a son diagnosed with schizophrenia. As in each story, the moral norms and behaviors of the time period are presented along with the ever changing landscape. Mason writes with a flourish filled with crisp descriptions that elicit tactile responses along with what the characters are experiencing. Minor characters play major roles and transient beings become more prominent. All the unexpected journeys are to be celebrated.  Solid roots are planted from which multifaceted branches expand into new realms organically. This is a sumptuous novel of ephemeral  beauty. "The young saplings she remembered from her childhood had matured into a forest of their own. Nothing like the old woods that lay beyond the stone wall, but still remarkable, this sense of reclamation." I wholeheartedly encourage journeying into NORTH WORDS.