From the Forest

This is a lovely book. It is the author's extended meditation on the place of fairy tales in Western culture, alongside the relationship of Western (or Northern European) people to their forests. Each chapter features a walk through a particular forest in the UK, with discussion of the history of that forest, its make-up and condition, management practices that have been used there, and some issues that stand out for the author. In one chapter she visits the site of an ancient forest that no longer exists, and finds traces of the forest still showing through between the houses, roads and parking lots of a modern town. In another, she visits a conifer plantation in Scotland, not a natural woodland at all, and meditates on the tradition that has robbers, thieves and other “bad guys” hiding out in the forest. Each chapter ends with a fairy tale, reworked to address or highlight some of the issues she discussed in that chapter. Some are amusing, some are frightening or sad, some are solemn and beautiful.

I wanted to read each chapter slowly. The tone is personal and the topics aren't comprehensive, but they seem to reflect the personal interests of the author. I was fascinated by the information about forest management practices, and the assertion that the healthiest forests were ones that had been “cultivated” to produce firewood and used as grazing land for livestock such as pigs and goats. Observations about characters in fairy tales were fascinating too–characters who worked in the forest such as hunters and wood cutters are likely to be good guys, animals who talk are always worth listening to, fathers are likely to be too wrapped up in their own affairs to protect their children, but sisters are invariably loving and good.

If you like fairy tales and you have a love of walking in the woods, I recommend this book to you.