Hard by a Great Forest

DEBUT Set in Georgia, the former Soviet republic, after the recent Russian occupation of South Ossetia, this part-picaresque, part-bildungsroman reinforces the theme “you can’t go home again.” Saba follows his brother Sandro to their former home in Tbilisi after Sandro goes searching for their father, Irakli. Saba follows the breadcrumbs his brother and his father left for him—a reference to the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale that inspired the novel’s title. For years Irakli had worked tirelessly to bring his late wife to their new refuge in London. Now Irakli’s guilt has driven him home to Georgia. As Saba searches, he is guided by voices of lost family and friends. Nodar, a chain-smoking taxi driver, also guides Saba on his harrowing and sometimes humorous journey to find his own voice amidst a war-torn countryside.