Forest GreenFor readers of Elizabeth Strout and Anne Tyler, a powerful novel about a man on the run from himself, by Governor's General Award-winning author Kate Pullinger. On a rain-soaked Vancouver sidewalk in 1995, a homeless man fights for breath. Forest Green is the story of how he got there. Arthur Lunn is a golden boy, spending long summer days roaming the hills and swimming in the lakes of the Okanagan Valley. But the Great Depression is making life difficult, even in this remote and bucolic location. Soon, Art finds himself caught up in a battle between the town and the vagrants flowing through it, and before long the tension reaches a boiling point. A catastrophe follows--and changes everything. The trauma from this event shapes and haunts Art's life moving forward, from his experiences as a soldier in World War Two to his reckless, nomadic working days in logging camps across British Columbia to his turbulent relationship with his one great love, Rose--a woman he cannot believe he deserves. Painful, poignant yet ultimately full of hope, Forest Green explores the way trauma can warp our lives and the way love can ultimately mend us. |