Into the Forest - Softcover

Jean Hegland

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553379615 ISBN 13: 9780553379617

Publisher: Dial Press, 1998

Synopsis

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE · Set in the near-future, Into the Forest is a powerfully imagined novel that focuses on the relationship between two teenage sisters living alone in their Northern California forest home.

Over 30 miles from the nearest town, and several miles away from their nearest neighbor, Nell and Eva struggle to survive as society begins to decay and collapse around them. No single event precedes society's fall. There is talk of a war overseas and upheaval in Congress, but it still comes as a shock when the electricity runs out and gas is nowhere to be found. The sisters consume the resources left in the house, waiting for the power to return. Their arrival into adulthood, however, forces them to reexamine their place in the world and their relationship to the land and each other.

Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale, Into the Forest is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking novel of hope and despair set in a frighteningly plausible near-future America.

Praise for Into the Forest

“[A] beautifully written and often profoundly moving novel.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“A work of extraordinary power, insight and lyricism, Into the Forest is both an urgent warning and a passionate celebration of life and love.”—Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade

“From the first page, the sense of crisis and the lucid, honest voice of the . . . narrator pull the reader in. . . . A truly admirable addition to a genre defined by the very high standards of George Orwell's 1984.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Beautifully written.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This beautifully written story captures the essential nature of the sister bond: the fierce struggle to be true to one’s own self, only to learn that true strength comes from what they are able to share together.”—Carol Saline, co-author of Sisters

“Jean Hegland’s sense of character is firm, warm, and wise. . . . [A] fine first novel.”—John Keeble, author of Yellowfish

About this title

Review:

Jean Hegland's prose in Into the Forest is as breathtaking as one of the musty, ancient redwoods that share the woodland with Nell and Eva, two sisters who must learn to live in harmony with the northern California forest when the electricity shuts off, the phones go out, their parents die, and all civilization beyond them seems to grind to a halt. At first, the girls rely on stores of food left in their parents' pantry, but when those supplies begin to dwindle, their only option is to turn to each other and the forest's plants and animals for friendship, courage, and sustenance. Into the Forest, an apocalyptic coming-of-age story, will fill readers (both teens and adults) with a profound sense of the human spirit's strength and beauty.

From the Publisher:

Praise for Jean Hegland's Into the Forest

"[A] beautifully written and often profoundly moving novel."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"A work of extraordinary power, insight and lyricism, Into the Forest is both an urgent warning and a passionate celebration of life and love."
--Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade

*"From the first page, the sense of crisis and the lucid, honest voice of the...narrator pull the reader in....A truly admirable addition to a genre defined by the very high standards of George Orwell's 1984."
--Publishers Weekly,starred review

"Beautifully written."
--Kirkus Reviews

"This beautifully written story captures the essential nature of the sister bond: the fierce struggle to be true to one's own self, only to learn that true strength comes from what they are able to share together."
--Carol Saline, co-author of Sisters

"Jean Hegland's sense of character is firm, warm, and wise....[A] fine first novel."
--John Keeble, author of Yellowfish

About this edition

• Publisher: Dial Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0553379615
• ISBN 13: 9780553379617
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 241