Episode 9
Concerning an address to the Historical Society of Western Massachusetts by a detectorist and the discovery of old bones.
Daniel Mason's North Woods is a time-spanning novel chronicling four centuries of human and natural history centred on a yellow house and its surrounding woods in Massachusetts, New England.
Through varied narrative styles, the book follows a diverse cast of fascinating inhabitants, from Puritan lovers to a lovelorn painter, a fraudulent mystic, a farmer, a slave hunter, a detectorist, twin sisters, a crime reporter. It even includes the stories of panthers and beetles, whilst exploring themes of memory, fate, and the interconnectedness of life with the environment.
The novel also incorporates historical documents and diverse literary formats to create a genre-defying tapestry of stories and music within the same location.
Read by
Hannah Traylen &
Daniel Weyman
Abridged by Lucy Ellis
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4
On radio
Broadcast
- Tomorrow 22:45ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4