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Hard by a Great Forest

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Hard by a Great Forest

By: Leo Vardiashvili
Narrated by: Luke Thompson
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About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili, read by Luke Thompson.

* AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST FOR 2024 *
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE 2024 *

‘A spellbinding achievement’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘Poignant and often painfully comic’ OBSERVER
‘I gasped, laughed, and wept my way through it’ KHALED HOSSEINI
‘Hugely impressive’ NEW EUROPEAN
‘Novels like this might help light the way’ GUARDIAN
'At once a puzzle hunt and an affecting meditation on exile' ECONOMIST

Tbilisi’s littered with memories that await me like landmines. The dearly departed voices I silenced long ago have come back without my permission. The situation calls for someone with a plan. I didn’t even bring toothpaste.

Saba’s father is missing, and the trail leads back to Tbilisi, Georgia.

It’s been two decades since Irakli fled his war-torn homeland with two young sons, now grown men. Two decades since he saw their mother, who stayed so they could escape. At long last, Tbilisi has lured him home. But when Irakli’s phone calls stop, a mystery begins...

Arriving in the city as escaped zoo animals prowl the streets, Saba picks up the trail of clues: strange graffiti, bewildering messages transmitted through the radio, pages from his father’s unpublished manuscript scattered like breadcrumbs. As the voices of those left behind pull at the edges of his world, Saba will discover that all roads lead back to the past, and to secrets swallowed up by the great forests of Georgia.

In a winding pursuit through the magic and mystery of returning to a lost homeland, Hard by a Great Forest is a rare, searching tale of home, memory and sacrifice – of one family’s mission to rescue one another, and put the past to rest.©2024 Leo Vardiashvili (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature
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Set against the enchanting backdrop of Georgia, this book illuminates the power of responsibility, guilt, empathy, and love in forging bonds that withstand the tests of time. Leo deftly weaves together the lives of diverse characters, each grappling with their own challenges and triumphs. Yet, through shared experiences and acts of kindness, they discover a common thread that binds them together – the profound realisation that we are all interconnected, and our actions ripple outward, shaping the world around us.

Son’s quest to track down his father and he finds much more…

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The ties between ‘brothers’. The fact that Georgia seemed destined to be ‘f…..d ‘ by some bully or other and the resilience of the people.
A cleverly written story against a backdrop of one unfortunate disaster or another befalling a country just wanting to be free and self govern.

A guest is a gift from Gid

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Showed us the pain of leaving home and returning to memories, and family - given and found

Wonderful narration, utterly poignant story

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This forst work by the author is very well work a listen or read. I look forward to his ne, t book amd highly recommended this one

Fascinating read

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A hard listen at times, I enjoyed recognising the places, events and familiar Georgian traditions. The occasional dark humour was well placed. The actor read the book very well and it was a great idea to replace the Georgian dialects with British ones (since the book was written and read in English).

Enjoyed the references to Georgian places and traditions

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Completely drawn in by story telling, landscape descriptors and incredible characters. Audible performance also could not be faulted, so engrossed I had to put life on hold!

Incredible narrative, utterly enthralling

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Captured both the resilience and vibrancy of its people and the sadness in Georgia's recent history. Engaging characters.

Evocative of modern Georgia with impact of its history

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using common metaphors, unrealistic, first person seeming weak and having to be led by others

written by a novice

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I hate to write a bad review but I found this book very unimpressive. I read it because it was on the Economist’s reading list and found it very dull for 90% of the book. I won’t ruin the story for you but I found the clues juvenile and didn’t add to the story at all. In fact the whole story line was missing. The animals was a bizarre thing to add I must say, I think he tried quite a few techniques here but frankly the last 2 chapters were the only good ones.

This was one of those books I seriously had to force myself to power on through.
I’m sorry, I hope my opinion is an unpopular one.

Disappointing and a struggle to read

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