Synopsis
Ann Holmes is a devout Roman Catholic and an itinerant mushroom-picker in Washington State. She also sees visions of the Virgin Mary in the forest, and before long she has attracted a cult of fanatical followers who want to put up a church in honor of her visions. The trouble is, the local bishop has called her a fake, Ann herself is appalled by the attention she is receiving, and a simple girl who wants only to practice her faith is in danger of having her entire life misunderstood and disrupted. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2003-09-01 | | Series: | GUTERSON, DAVID |
| Size | | Length: | 323 pages | | Height: | 9.8 in | | Width: | 6.8 in | | Thickness: | 1.8 in | | Weight: | 23.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
From the best-selling author of Snow Falling on Cedars—an emotionally charged, provocative new novel about a teenage girl who claims to see the Virgin Mary.
Ann Holmes seems an unlikely candidate for revelation. A sixteen-year-old runaway, she is an itinerant mushroom picker who lives in a tent. But on a November afternoon, in the foggy woods of North Fork, Washington, the Virgin comes to her, clear as day.
Father Collins—a young priest new to North Fork—finds Ann disturbingly alluring. But it is up to him to evaluate—impartially—the veracity of Ann’s sightings: Are they delusions, or a true calling to God? As word spreads and thousands, including the press, converge upon the town, Carolyn Greer, a smart-talking fellow mushroomer, becomes Ann’s disciple of sorts, as well as her impromptu publicity manager. And Tom Cross, an embittered logger who’s been out of work since his son was paralyzed in a terrible accident, finds in Ann’s visions a last chance for redemption for both himself and his son.
As Father Collins searches his own soul and Ann’s, as Carolyn struggles with her less than admirable intentions, as Tom alternates between despair and hope, Our Lady of the Forest tells a suspenseful, often wryly humorous, and deeply involving story of faith at a contemporary crossroads.
Industry Reviews
"OUR LADY OF THE FOREST is an ambitious book, filled to the brim with theological discussions and wordplay, catalogues of fine art and folly--all centered on Christian faith. This is a noble effort."
Washington Post Book World (10/05/2003)
"Guterson...fills the rain forest (and the trailers and the Laundromat and the taverns) with witty, self-regarding, tough misanthropes. More than that, he shines some light on characters...we might reflexively assume to be living less than a full life: a priest, a hippie in a van, a redneck logger, a druggie runaway. Guterson's previous do-the-right-thing morality is happily set aside in favor of a humanism that allows his people to lust, to be funny, to fail, to hurt one another."
New York Times Book Review - Claire Dederer (11/02/2003)
"Sharp and incisive without a trace of either cynicism or credulity: a clever tale on a familiar fable of redemption."
Kirkus - Carolyn See (07/15/2003)
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