One of my favourite books of the year!! I just adored it!! I'm always fascinated by the stories that a house or area could tell, and in this book you get that in bucketloads!! It charts the ebb and flow of nature and the people in exquisite detail and I felt like I was there in the woods watching the action play out!

Set in the woods of New England the focus is around the inhabitants, both human and animal, over a long period of time and just seeing the different characters that are there at the time and the variety of stories they have to tell, and we get to see these glimpses into their lives. It starts with a man getting the house ready for his family, but enjoying the peace and quiet the area affords him and that's a feeing that you get throughout the book that the space becomes a retreat for those who come across the area, and that the connection with the nature around them is a real pull for varying reasons.

The characters introduced over the years are fascinating and the nature is beautifully described and begins to feel like extra characters too. And no matter the turmoil going on in the world and for the humans, the cycle of nature continues and it is one of those stories that is epic in its' scale and amazingly captivating. A must read!!!

The remote woods in the north of Massachusetts, a place where history has shown its cycle. A young puritan couple on the run make a home, later a young woman kidnapped by native people tries to protect her protector. A weary soldier makes a home for his twin daughters and grows apples, an artist tries to forget his love, a mother cares for her ill son and a con-man meets his match in a catamount. Over hundreds of years a small corner of world reflects change and progress.
This is a book of huge scope even though it is focused on a very small area. The first half of the book is brilliant and I loved it but started to lose a little patience halfway with the the story of the medium. Essentially this is a series of short vignettes pieced together by a geographical place and inevitably some are better that others.

This is a remarkable book. It's structure is a series of stories set over a time span of more than a hundred years. The author is clever enough to give you little hints at the beginning of each section so you know when you are and who you might be reading about in relation to the previous section.
The "where" is never in doubt as the setting is the same the eponymous north Woods. The woods change over time - an ecological theme here. They mainly change as a result of human intervention.

Having such a varied host of characters gives Mason a chance to show how well he can portray a range of characters from a resilient soldier to enmeshed twins. It also allows him to use different styles and genres. The true crime reporter's section was written with journalistic flair and a particular gallows humour.

Each section has links to other sections in terms of plots but is also rich in other resonances. It follows human interactions and impacts with and on Nature. The humans are seen as passing players against the awesome backdrop. Human history is small against this.

You sense the wry sense of humour of the author behind some stories but also his psychological insight, compassion and empathy.

One of the best books I've read this year, hence a rare 5 star. I expect to come back to this book and journey through time all over again.

This is an amazing, beautifully crafted and written novel.
It’s centred around a house and orchards in Massachusetts across the centuries, starting in the 1800s.
Mason weaves strange and fantastic tales about those who live there: some read like magical realism.
I’m struggling to do justice to the novel: it’s so rich in its imagination, storytelling and poetic writing.
Recommended: it’ll be one of the best books you read this year.

Beautifully written.
I enjoyed the way the book was written, unfortunately to me it read like a series of short stories with some connections.
The highlights for me were the Osgood Apple and their development, really interesting, the twins Mary and Alice and Henry suffering from mental illness. Sometimes I got lost in figuring out who was who or the timeline.
On the whole it was an interesting read especially the references to nature
Thank you NetGalley and Daniel.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

North Woods tells the story of small house in the rural Massachusetts mountains, and its fate over hundreds of years. We follow its inhabitants over this time, from a soldier who becomes obsessed with building an apple orchard, to a painter pining for a love he cannot have. As the inhabitants change, so do their surroundings, as new trees come and go, and harsh weather takes its toll.

North Woods is an absolute triumph of a novel. One of my favourites of the year by far. Each inhabitant’s story is so different, yet there remains commonality between each life, stretching hundreds of years. Mason’s writing is captivating, and this includes his intricate detailing of nature, something which I don’t often feel particularly drawn to, but it’s done so effortlessly here. I also enjoyed the mix of methods used, including song, poem, and letter.

Honestly, this is one I’d recommend to pretty much everyone. Pick it up now!

This is a tough one to review as I found it very complex and somewhat uneven and I'm not sure I'll do it justice. And at the outset, I wasn't sure I'd like it! BUT--incredible prose which at times took my breath away. Sometimes a bit confusing [to me] because although there were interconnecting stories--not always so obvious. However, the same yellow house in the woods in western Massachusetts appeared again and again--over four centuries--as did the Wonder apple.

There is SO MUCH in this book--art, colonialism, grief, aging, sexual preferences [hidden], life and death, slavery, nature, psychiatric disorders [Note: Mason also is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Stanford], nature, a catamount, AND MORE!! Some of the stories are long, others quite short. Very dry humor.

The story of Mary and Alice--amazing! As was the beetle mating!!

So many descriptions I loved:
"Time had creased my brow, garlanded my chin with several companions, and furred both ear and nostril generously against the cold."

"...whimsy of a God who would deliver water to the earth in the guise of a white powder!" [snow]

"She always slept poorly in hotels, but the bed in the King Philip was of a vengeful discomfort."

In the right hands, I can see this as a movie!

Recommend-- read it slowly to savor and take in all that it offers.
4.5

North Woods is an absolute triumph. I’ve savoured every page of this incredible story which takes the reader in the journey of a lifetime, What a wonderfully simple premise; it’s the story of a small plot of land in Massachusetts and those who live there over four hundred years. It starts with Puritan settlers and their hardships and goes on to explore the lives of an English soldier, spinster twins, a journalist painter and more.

It’s literally brimming with life and characters. Daniel Mason explores numerous themes through the eyes of each inhabitant and there’s a strong sense of place and change as the years roll by. The connections are continuous and it’s a powerful narrative filled with a range of different individuals all of whom leave their mark one way or another. It’s impressive. Wonderfully written and surely a contender for literary recognition. I absolutely loved this and now need to find more from this gifted author.

I loved the first book by Daniel Mason I read, The Winter Soldier, an emotional and beautifully written novel set in the First World War that I had no hesitation in awarding five stars. The same was true of his next book, A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, a collection of short stories whose subtle links and recurring themes become more apparent as you read the book. In my review, I described it as 'a tour de force of imagination' and I have no hesitation in applying the same description to North Woods.

Starting in the 17th century and centred around a remote house and the surrounding north woods, events unfold in a series of episodes told in a variety of styles including a testimony, a newspaper report, a lecture, an exchange of correspondence, a poem, a song. Over time, the house is a place of passion, violence, refuge, contentment, simmering resentment, mental distress and trickery. It's extended, damaged by storms, left to become derelict, abandoned and then rediscovered. The people that have inhabited it have each left a mark on it, sometimes incorporeal in nature, adding an intriguing supernatural element.

The connections the author weaves between the episodes and the various characters are immensely clever and skilfully done. Some of the links are obvious, some less so, meaning it might only be the mention of an object - an old hat of felted beaver - or a name - Osgood - that makes you recall an earlier story. The book is akin to a patchwork quilt made up of squares created by people of different generations and different skill levels, sewn together in random fashion but with some recurring motifs. As I was reading the book, my constant thought was 'this is my favourite', only for it to be replaced by another almost immediately afterwards.

The events in the lives of the characters are often intensely moving but there are also elements of humour, eccentricity and melodrama. And the book doesn't just feature human characters but also animal and insect life - that 'lusty beetle' mentioned in the blurb - even fungal diseases.

The writing is beautiful with the author adopting a variety of styles that wonderfully bring to life the events of each episode. I'm a great fan of a list and there are some brilliantly quirky ones in the book, often almost poetic in style, such as this description of the items making up the ballast of a ship bound for America, demonstrating it's not only humans who migrate.

'There are stones and loam and sand, insects and earthworms, bird bones and crushed snail shells, roly-polies, and tuffs of grass that wilt within the darkness of the hold. There is a half-decayed mole, and a live one, broken jugs, a Roman coin that will be rediscovered by a young boy walking on the shoreline 317 years later, and another, a "crown of the double rose" bearing an image of Edward VI on horseback, that will sift down into the silty depths of Massachusetts Bay and disappear forever. There is a beaded necklace dropped by a longshoreman's wife during a moment of indiscretion, a splintered lens from a bookkeeper's spectacles, stray curls blown from the barber's market stall by an offshore breeze, peach pits, rotting broadsheets of forgotten songs. And there are seeds, uncountable, scattered in the humid load: red clover, groundsel, spurrey, trefoil, meadow fescue, dandelion, hedge parsley, nonesuch, plantains.'

The depiction of nature is mesmerising charting the changing of the seasons and the transformation of the woods over time. In fact, the woods are a character in themselves acting amongst other things as a sanctuary, a meeting place, a source of inspiration, a habitation, a hiding place and a harbinger of environmental change.

I thought North Woods was absolutely brilliant. It's definitely one of the best books I've read this year.

I had a great time reading North Woods. I wanted to read it as soon as I read the blurred, something appealed to me and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. The book uses an unusual narrative structure in that the story seems to be focalised through this strange cabin in the woods as if it’s the central character. This works really well. The book is made up of linked stories, songs, poems, letters, and articles with the cabin at the centre of it all. I loved the setting the way the author describes nature. It’s a captivating, engrossing read.

I adored North Woods. it is an utterly spell-binding read about a house built in the woods of Massachusetts and all the people, who over the years, are connected to it.
Any review I leave will simply not do this book justice!!! This has to be one of the best reads of the year

A stunning novel set in North Woods in New York State, spanning 400 years and all the life, death and seasons in between. This feels to me like a book best read in stages, with time in between to absorb each section, the writing is so beautiful it deserves to be enjoyed fully.

North Woods is a masterpiece, and my first (but not last!) foray into the world of this talented writer. Mason's writing is a revelation, particularly his vivid descriptions of nature, which left me forever changed in how I perceive something as ordinary as an apple.

This novel is a captivating exploration of the lives and legacies of those who have called a yellow house in the north woods of Massachusetts home over the course of a century. Mason delves deep into the souls of his characters, bringing both the living and the spectral to life with haunting beauty. What sets North Woods apart is its unique narrative structure: a mosaic of linked stories, songs, poems, letters, and articles.

As I turned the pages of this book, I found myself not merely reading but experiencing the changing seasons and moods of the north woods, in harmony with the characters who inhabited it. Mason's portrayal of the house as a silent witness to the joys, sorrows, and secrets of its inhabitants is a testament to his skill as a storyteller.

EVERYONE should read this incredible novel!

Wow, what a book! I’m currently reading the Booker longlist and I’m not sure how the timings for Booker works but this should be on a longlist. It’s much better than many of the books that I’ve read that are on it. Forget that it should be on the shortlist!

We follow the narrative of one property that is located in the woods in Massachusetts USA. We see two of the early pilgrim settlers escape there to make a new life for themselves. The novel then charts us through the comings and goings of the different inhabitants of the property and charting the development of the USA in the process.

It’s cleverly done with stories overlapping, and further insights into earlier inhabitants much later in the book. It really is a writing master piece.

With its dark wood setting, and a few spooky things happening, it is the perfect book to be reading over Autumn as the nights draw in

North Woods is a very strange, but captivating story that comes together and is better understood as we travel through the history of this wooded plot of land, the homes that are built on it and the people who call it home.
Beautifully written, Daniel Mason's descriptions are immersive.

Highly recommended, a perfect autumnal read as the nighs grow longer.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read North Woods.

I really enjoyed the North Woods, the story of one New England house and its occupants throughout the years from the first European settlers in North America to the present day (and beyond?) There are many different styles employed in the writing, including poems and songs, giving each person and time period a different feel.

The house has such a strong sense of place and each inhabitant never fully leaves, even after their deaths and subsequent occupants can sense their echoes. There are lovely descriptions of the local flora and fauna as it changes through the centuries through disease and human impact.

A thorooughly recommended read for lovers of nature and historical fiction.

This book is a wonder. Set over hundreds of years, it tells the tales of the inhabitants of a house in the woods. It fells like nothing really happens and yet everything happens. It almost reads like a set of interconnected short stories and in that sense it reminds me of one of my faves A Visit From The Goon Squad but that's definitely where the comparison begins and ends.

Each of the narratives is so compelling and in between is the most poetic, lyrical prose to weave it all together. And the apples? I am absolutely dying to try this fictional apple! It sounds delectable!

I loved this. I did read it on holiday (it's not what I would typically describe as a beach read) but I don't even believe that's what made me love it so much. It's just a fantastic book! I think I would recommend going in knowing very little and just letting the story carry you along. It is beautiful and strong enough to hold you, I promise.

A beautiful, mesmerising story set on a small plot of land over several centuries in New England woods. A very clever story that totally engrossed me from the first page to the last. Gorgeous and highly recommended.

American author Daniel Mason is a new name for me. He has now written five fictional works and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He’s won numerous awards in his homeland. His first novel was turned into an opera and he is a psychiatrist who also is an assistant professor at Stanford University where he teaches literature, so the fault about not knowing about him is purely mine-he’s certainly been busy!
This book features a yellow house located in woodland in Massachusetts. It moves through generations who live in or have something to do with the house and reflects the passage of time both within their lives and the natural world. It took me a while to get into it until we meet the Osgood family, especially identical twins Alice and Mary who take on their father’s apple business when he goes off to war and builds upon his success with the most delicious Osgood Wonder apple, which becomes one of those moments in fiction when my mouth watered at every mention. (I think of this as “Turkish Delight Syndrome” after “The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”). This book really comes to life at this point. There’s huge versatility here- there’s songs and ballads, letters, speeches, a true crime column from a pulp magazine, medical case notes, estate agent details as each generation has some links to the property, its environment and its mysteries. The most striking thing about it is its unpredictability- at no point did I seem to know where it was going.
I did feel I was playing catch-up, having to piece things together at the start of each section, then being really drawn into each story which tended to end before I was ready for it. I thought this would lead to frustration but it didn’t. It did keep me on my toes and with those woods ever present it produced an almost hypnotic effect. I found myself tracking back through the generations in my head, not wanting to lose any of the connections and was even happy when it flew off on some tangent, often to a depiction of time passing within the natural world.
I came away with the sense of something extraordinary, the ending pulls everything together as we pass through history to the present day and beyond with ghosts and echoes of the past and even physical remains adding to the experience for each successive generation with such strong links to its environment. The history and ecology of a location go side by side within this vividly told literary novel.
North Woods is published by John Murray on 19th September 2023. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, John Murray Press and the author Daniel Mason.
I absolutely loved the storytelling in this book. It was spooky, atmospheric and totally immersive. The author paints such a vivid picture of the house, the woods, and the inhabitants that you're desperate to return to it and find out what happens next. I would have to agree with other reviewers, totally electrifying and each story arc wound together well. Would recommend!