This is a heart-rending story of loss and survival both from personal and national perspectives. This is really well-written immersing the reader completely in the lives of the people of Georgia, displaying their stoicism and bravery incredibly movingly. This story takes so many twists and turns, from humour with strands of craziness to grief which can't fail to move readers. Never predictable the adventure of Saba is astonishing, but it is this journey that releases Saba from survivor guilt to release into reconciliation with his identity and truth. This is a reading experience that will remain with me for a long time.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

I wasn't sure if Hard by a Great Forest was going to be for me, but I wanted to read a book in Georgia so I decided to go for it. I think I really liked it? It's a mad, fairytale-like story of Saba, a Georgian refugee in London, who decides to follow his missing father's trail in Tbilisi. The evocation of Georgia, and Tbilisi in particular, was so so vivid; I really felt like I could imagine it all and it's made me very keen to visit the city now. I think this would make a great TV series or film, it's very cinematic in its descriptions. There were some really lovely phrases too, and the story is an interesting and engaging one, dealing with Georgian history and civil war and displacement. But it took me a while to get into it and I would get impatient of my reading sessions a lot quicker than my usual reading habits. So I would recommend this book, but clearly there was something I wasn't massively connecting with.

More of a whodunwhat than a whodunnit – and a lot more besides – Leo Vardiashvili’s Hard by a Great Forest is set mainly in the former Soviet satellite country of Georgia. Much of it takes place in Tbilisi, the city itself taking on the life of a character. A recent storm has caused the inadvertent escape of many of the city’s zoo animals, resulting in some surreal encounters with the creatures as we travel with narrator Saba when he arrives from London in a search for his missing father and brother.

Alongside the bizarre background with the zoo animals, we also have a plethora of characters drawn from Saba’s memory (the novel, written in present-tense first person, enables the hero to draw on ghostlike presences from the past who speak to him, commenting on his plight at various stages and functioning like choral figures). These characters are themselves vivid and rounded, more than mere caricatures. The novel is enhanced by its first-person focus; we remain with the same narrator and his story while he provides a potted biography that touches on the lives of the other characters throughout.

An exciting denouement as the search for Saba’s father Irakli intensifies impresses in both its poetic and its thrilling elements. Hard by a Great Forest is filled with humour and heart.

The unusual title of this debut novel, Hard by a Great Forest, piqued my interest and the advance praise it received prompted me to request it from Netgalley, and I'm so glad I did. It's my first five star read of the year.

Hard by a Great Forest dwelt a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children" - the opening line of Hansel and Gretel and the fable which inspires this magnificent novel which is many things all at once - an adventure story, a thriller, a tragi-comedy and a powerful missive on the individual and collective trauma of war.

Set in Georgia, the mountainous former Soviet republic and a country repeatedly invaded and plundered for centuries, the book tells the story of Saba, a man who fled Georgia as a young boy, finding refuge in London with his father Irakli and brother Sandro. His mother Eka was forced to stay behind and all three have been forever haunted by the loss of her. When Irakli returns to Georgia to expel old ghosts, Saba and his brother return too, hoping to find him and bring him back to London. When Saba arrives and chaos ensues, he ends up following a trail of breadcrumbs left behind by Sandro and Irakli as he tries to track his father down.

Saba is ably assisted by taxi driver Nodar who steals the novel with his brilliant one-liners and touching humanity. As the men set off on a journey out of Tbilisi across Georgia, the story really gathers pace and I could not put it down. Beautifully written and a novel for our time: the mindless destruction and inhumanity that comes with war, and the mark it leaves on children in particular (we only have to look to Gaza to see this play out in real time) is so real - and for what? For what? The ending broke me apart.

A story so full of loss, love, longing and letting go - this novel will stay with me for a long time to come. Hopefully it will win the awards it deserves. 5/5 stars

*Sincere thanks to @bloomsburypublishing for the advance copy via @netgalley. Hard by a Great Forest will be published next Thursday, 18 January 2024. It's published by @penguinrandomhouse in the US I believe. As always, this is an honest review.

Several years ago when I visited Georgia I looked for novels set there and struggled to find anything. Now here is just the book, but it's good enough to merit a wider readership than just those heading to the Caucasus on holiday.

The narrator of 'Hard by a Great Forest', Saba, is a young man who escaped the Georgian civil war as a child. Now in his twenties, he returns to his homeland for the first time, after both father and then brother go missing there. So begins an adventure full of corrupt policemen, cryptic clues, faces from the past, and a whole host of escaped zoo animals. The shadow of war is present throughout, both the original post Soviet civil war, and the more recent/ongoing conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Saba is a likeable character that I could identify with and wanted to succeed in his mission. He was slightly hapless, but not in a ridiculous or clownish way. He ineptly navigated his way through a set of dangerous and unusual situations in the way that any real ordinary person would. Too often the 'hero' of such a novel turns out to be extraordinarily competent in a crisis. Saba doesn't and it makes the whole thing feel far more real and his character much more sympathetic. Vadisashvili also knows not to take it too far.

Although it's underpinned by the sadness of lives ended or ruined by utterly pointless conflict, it somehow isn't depressing. As well as showing the worst of humanity, there are also many examples of ordinary, decent and good people. There are some loveable supporting characters, particularly Nodar the taxi driver. It has a strong sense of place and of Georgian culture and hospitality. I recognised Tbilisi and felt I was there again. It's not just a story about the fictional characters, but of a whole nation and people.

It's hard to categorise into a genre - the best books often are. I'd class it as a thriller/mystery, similar to some of Robert Harris' novels. There is plenty of action, particularly towards the end, and it zips along at a good pace. I found it quite hard to put down.

I would highly recommend this to readers who enjoy literary thrillers (e.g. Robert Harris), or have an interest in the region, or just anyone looking for a well written book with great characters and a strong plot.

'Hard by a Great Forest' is a hard-hitting, moving and darkly comic novel about loss, separation and returning to one's homeland.

The narrator, Saba, escaped to London from Georgia two decades ago as a child, along with his brother, Sandro, and his father, Irakli, leaving his mother, Eka, behind because they do not have enough money to get them all out. Irakli has now returned to Georgia and gone missing; Sandro has gone in search of him and also gone missing, and now it is Saba's turn to follow.

Saba arrives to find a country in disarray (not least due to the zoo animals that have escaped due to recent flooding), but with the help of a friendly taxi driver called Nodar and clues from Irakli's unpublished manuscript carefully left by Sandro alongside cryptic literary references, Saba embarks on a journey deep into the heart of Georgia and of his own past, accompanied by the voices of ghosts from his childhood in Tbilisi.

This is often a violent and harrowing read as it depicts the realities of life in war-torn Georgia and Ossetia, but this is combined with a love for Georgia's people (and food!), lots of gallows humour (especially in the exchanges between Saba and Nodar) and some tender and devastating observations on the nature of loss, particularly as experienced by those separated by war and conflict. I also enjoyed the importance of stories - not least the titular allusion to Hansel and Gretel, which plays a central role in the novel through the trail of breadcrumbs which Sandro leaves for Saba.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this powerful novel.

Hard by a Great Forest is about a father and two sons (Saba and Sandro) who fled Georgia while their mother stayed behind. After living in England for nearly twenty years later, their father disappears to Georgia, followed by Sandro.

There are several subplots within the story, for example, wild animals from the zoo have escaped. Sandro has left Saba encrypted messages, in places from their childhood. Saba hears the voices family members and friends who he hasn’t seen in years or have passed.

I felt sadness while reading this story, but there were some comical moments too. I especially enjoyed the character Nodar.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a mesmerising story set in post-Soviet Georgia. The narrator, Saba, fled Georgia with his father and brother during the Georgia-Russia war and returns decades later to follow a breadcrumb trail left by his brother, who, in turn was searching for their father who had left them a cryptic message before disappearing completely. This is an archetypal quest story with deliberate echoes of familiar myths, such as Baba Yaga and Hansel and Gretel. Saba is assisted in Tbilisi by taxi driver and “Soviet shitbucket whisperer” Nodar, himself an exile from South Ossetia and on his own quest for his missing daughter across the border. The world described by the author is one of dark forests, abandoned villages, torrential rivers and mountains representing the end of the known world. This threat and peril represented by this mythic and surreal landscape is enhanced by the mass escape of animals from the Tbilisi zoo, corrupt police officers and lawless border guards. This is a fascinating book and one to digest slowly, to fully appreciate the mythic storyline and the depiction of memory and trauma. That said, there are also aspects which are disruptive and don’t work particularly well, such as the excerpts from the play about Valiko and Saba’s conversations with the ghost of his childhood friend.

With thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

I loved this book! It's a beautifully written, character-driven debut that left me with a book hangover and sent me straight off to read more about the villages up in the Caucasus mountains. Already one of my favourite books of 2024 (and there are a lot of great reads this year), I can't wait to start introducing my customers to Saba and Nodar. Wonderful!

"Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his two children." is the opening line of Hansel and Gretel and allegory for this debut by Leo Vardiashili. I saw the german ad for the german edition of this novel and was instantly intrigued. 18 years ago, Saba fled from Georgia with his father and brother to London. Recently his father returned and disappeared followed by his brother. Unable to resist Saba returns as well in search for his family. His brother left clues, breadcrumbs, for him to go on a scavenger hunt through Georgia trying to find his father and brother. Trying to find out what happened and facing his demons from the past.
I couldn't put this book down. It is rather fast paced but still goes into depths. At moments it was predictable, Saba is veeeery naiv, but it could also surprise me. While I liked the ending I would have wished for 200 more pages. "If a book is well written, I always find it too short. – Jane Austen."

The narrative follows Saba as he returns to his homeland of Georgia after an 18-year absence, a place previously unfamiliar to the reader. His journey is driven by the quest to find his brother, Sandro, who, in turn, is searching for their father, Irakli. Eka, their mother, was left behind during the family's departure amid post-Soviet, mid-civil war Georgia. Irakli, burdened by grief and guilt, has ventured back to uncover the truth, only to disappear. The responsibility of finding him falls first on one son and then the other.

Praising this book becomes a challenging task, as there is much to commend, and I fear my enthusiasm might become overwhelming. Instead, I'll simply say this is a must-read. It delves into themes of loss, fear, war, injustice, greed, family, and survivor guilt, but at its core, it is a tale of love. The narrative introduces us to a host of compelling characters, including Nodar and Ketino, who experienced the heartbreaking loss of their daughter during the Ossetia bombing, and Surik, who harbors affection for Eka. Even the ghosts in Saba's mind are intricately formed.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

An interesting first novel from Leo Vardiashvili, who like the main character in his book fled with his family from war torn Georgia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Lots of first novelists pick generously from their first hand knowledge and I’m sure that is the case with Leo, who paints a vivid picture of life in Tbilisi. So much so that I found myself using Google maps to follow Sabo the main character as he seeks to find his father who has gone missing on his first trip home since the war. The actual event of the flooding of the zoo and subsequent escape of the animals which occurred in 2015 is woven into the story giving it an almost surreal feeling as Sabo is confronted by a Tiger in the Tbilisi Botanical Gardens.
I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to Leo’s next offering.

Treasure trail hunt to try to save the boys father against military rules and regulations.

This book made me laugh in places, and sit on the edge of the seat for other parts. For the most part it was really descriptive in the writing. A part of the world I did not know but really felt part of it with the graphic descriptions.

A debut novel to be proud of.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this novel.

A brutal and emotional scavenger hunt through Georgia's turbulent political landscape. The novel follows Saba as he searches for his lost father and brother. Following two sets of breadcrumbs laid by both, Saba's journey takes him to places he'd rather forget and uncovers memories best left undisturbed. I couldn't tear my eyes from the page, Vardiashvili's writing is gripping and fast paced, tearing through the streets of Tblisi to the backdrop of a city (and country) in brutal turmoil, facing off corrupt detectives, escaped tigers and secrets that tore Saba's family apart.

Complex, moving and character driven.
This is the story of a father and two sons who escaped to the safety of England during the Georgian civil war, tragically leaving behind the boys’ mother.
Years later, they return, first the father, in search of his wife, then the older son in search of his father and finally, Sabo, the youngest, searching for all his family, swallowed up in a series of mysterious and ominous events and a strange trail of messages, clues and warnings.
In some ways, this seems like yet another story of the fear and oppression behind the map of Eastern Europe where all countries seem crushed and tainted by association with the now defunct monster of the USSR. Yet it is really not just another story but a wonderfully idiosyncratic tale, verging on magical from time to time, rioting through tragedy and comedy and the puzzling pursuit from an oppressive police system, with a host of strong and vibrant characters.
I found it quite confusing occasionally – as Sabo searches, he is accompanied by voices from the past which sometimes seem to be giving him clues to add to those left by his brother and before that, his father. But sometimes they are just making him remember and face his own past. At times it seems as if his quest is to find himself.
One of the things I loved most about this book was the feeling that I was being introduced to Georgia, the colourful, distinctive country set between Russia and Turkey and famed for its wine and its fiercely independent national character. As far as this ignorant westerner is concerned, Georgia has been a tiny, bright splash on the dark and confusing map of Eastern Europe and it was great to be brought a little closer to it.
The Georgian forests and mountains are vivid and powerful and the image of Tblisi, a city devastated by civil war is both intimate and harrowing. A picture grows of a Georgian character, larger than life, hardworking, colourful – even whimsical at times - with sorrow and wry humour beneath an endearing bravado.
Overall I definitely enjoyed this novel and couldn’t put it down. I loved the characters and the complex and sometimes puzzling plot against the marvellous backdrop of the fabulous Eastern European country of Georgia.
I am grateful to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC

Well this was the book I needed at this point! It’s so hard to find a book like this that keeps you hooked but also develops some wider plots and links with politics and other situations you can’t find in other books. My heart was ripped out and squeezed by the book and I couldn’t cope or put it down!!!! Thank you for letting me have a copy of this early enough! Can’t wait to read more by this author

I ‘loved’ this book, though loved is not the correct word, neither is enjoyed. I couldn’t put it down, it’s funny and sad. My mind was with all those who are escaping or who have escaped persecution, along with those who couldn’t. This is a well written book, a must read, highly recommended. A reminder that we must be grateful for the things we have, enjoy life, laugh lots.

Really wonderful. Has actually made me book a trip to Georgia to explore. Loved the history of the place, the characters, the mystery - all in all, really terrific.

Saba is sent away from war torn Georgia with his brother and father as a small boy. Given refuge in the UK, his father works hard to care for the boys and earn enough money to pay for his wife to follow them. Years of hardwork are all for naught after the family is ripped off by an unscrupulous middle man and Eka dies before they can save her. Years later, their father returns to Georgia to try and track down the truth of what happened. Sandro, the older brother follows to find his father and now Saba returns to find them both. He comes back to a land that is both his own and alien, full of memories good and bad, and steeped in stories. Picking his way through the rubble of the life he left behind, Saba must follow the clues his brother left and piece together the real story.

A darkly clever, touching fairytale in the truest sense of the story. Fairy tales are ways of expressing some of the hardest truths and in Georgia, they have a way of coming to life in ways that are beautiful, unexpected and often violently sad. This is a strange and wonderful book.

I have always wanted to visit Georgia, so when I saw this title I just had to read it. It did not disappoint!

Saba’s journey will shock you, but make you laugh and cry also. Nodar, in particular, made me laugh a great deal!
I loved the Georgian culture and how much generosity is shown in times of need to help Saba.
Highly recommend.