The Forest Becomes Her

 

This book made me want to walk outside and put my hands in the dirt.

The Forest Becomes Her by Julie Carrick Dalton follows three women in Concord, Massachusetts after a centuries-old forest gets clear-cut to make room for a development of eco-friendly homes. The irony is lost on the developers. One massive oak is left standing alone, and that tree is what pulls these three women into each other's lives.

Polly is a grieving teenager who scattered her mother's ashes at the old oak, a place the two of them loved. Stella is the real estate agent selling the new homes, lonely after losing her best friend, Polly's mom. Hazel is Stella's neighbor, trying to make sense of a devastating loss, finding her only comfort in the soil of her backyard. Together they set out to save the tree, and they find friendship, community, and a way through their grief.

I loved all three women, but Polly especially. She's smart, shy, observant, and kind. She's carrying two kinds of grief at once, for her mother and for the forest, and she starts out alone but slowly finds her voice and her people. Dalton's writing is poignant without ever tipping into saccharine. You feel the weight these women are carrying, but the book never tries to manipulate you into feeling it. The magical realism is woven in so gradually it never feels forced, and the idea of finding solace in nature shows up in ways I won't spoil here.

Atmospheric, engrossing, and full of heart. The right reader for this is anyone who loves found family, magical realism, women's fiction, or stories about our connection to the natural world. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Megan Beatie Communications and St. Martin's Press for the gifted ARC. The Forest Becomes Her is out July 14.

If you enjoyed this review, you might like Little Wild by Laura Evans.

About the Author

As a journalist, Julie Carrick Dalton has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, Orion Magazine, Electric Literature, and other publications. A former beekeeper and organic farmer, she is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of climate crisis and is a member of the teaching faculty at Drexel University’s MFA Program. When she isn’t reading, writing, or teaching, you can probably find her skiing, swimming, kayaking, working in her garden, or trying to keep track of her four children and two dogs.

Follow Julie on Instagram and visit her website for news and information about her books.