SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2023'Epic and marvellously entertaining... There's a furious energy to the novel, which constantly moves forward even as it looks sorrowfully back'FINANCIAL TIMES'Magnificent... I want to press a copy on everyone I know'NIGELLA LAWSON'Epic, magnificent, beautiful... I couldn't put it down' PHILIPPA PERRY'Jewel-like clarity... exceptional'RICHARD COLES'Exquisite writing [and] a triumphant, elegant ending' MAIL ON SUNDAY'An intelligent family saga... ambitious and moving and funny' TESSA HADLEYIt's 1913 and a young, carefree and recklessly innocent girl, Mina, goes out into the forest on the edge of the Baltic sea and meets a gang of rowdy young men with revolution on their minds. It sounds like a fairy tale but it's life.The adventure leads to flight, emigration and a new land, a new language and the pursuit of idealism or happiness - in Liverpool. But what of the stories from the old country; how do they shape and form the next generations who have heard the well-worn tales?From the flour mills of Latvia to Liverpool suburbia to post-war Soho, The Story of the Forest is about myths and memory and about how families adapt in order to survive. It is a story full of the humour and wisdom we have come to relish from this wonderful writer.Orwell Prize for Political Fiction Award Ceremony - 22 June 2023