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Gossip from the Forest: The Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairytales: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairytales Hardcover – 1 Nov 2012

by
Sara Maitland (Author)
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Sara Maitland (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 52 customer reviews
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  • Gossip from the Forest: The Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairytales: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairytales
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Granta; First Edition edition (1 Nov. 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 184708429X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1847084293
  • Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 2.9 x 23.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 390,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

In this complex, enchanting book, Maitlandcombines a wiry retelling of traditional European fairy tales with piercing comments on folklore, history and superstition and a rich evocation of the deep, natural, gnarled life of ancient woodlands --The Times

Maitland is a wonderfully enthusiastic Guide to her twinned realms, writing gleefully of crystal brain fungi and the 'strange smokey shimmer' of bluebells. Her relish is infectious, and I suspect as well as hope her 12 woods will see some new faces this year --Observer

The question at the heart of this beautiful, thoughtful book is: how did forests form fairy tales and how have fairy tales influenced the way we feel about forests? It mixes social history with natural history, literary criticism with fiction ... Maitland is incredibly good at taking us with her on journeys through the woods, as she examines her emotional responses ... As a follow-up to Maitland's sublime The Book of Silence, it's a worthy successor. As something to read on dark nights as the wind lashes the leaves from the trees, it's damn near perfect --Independent

About the Author

SARA MAITLAND is the author of numerous works of fiction, including the Somerset Maugham Award-winning Daughters of Jerusalem, and several non-fiction books about religion. Born in 1950, she studied at Oxford University and currently tutors on the MA in creative writing for Lancaster University. She lives in Galloway.

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsBeautiful and thought provoking
By K. Brent on 14 Dec. 2012
Format: Hardcover
A most beautiful, original and interesting book. It's full of interesting information and beautiful descriptions of forests, which are a pleasure to read and make you wish visiting in person.The book deals with forests' history,the people who lived and live in them and how forests affect them and people in general. From the "free miners' to mushroom expert it brings many intersting aspects of how humans and forests affected each other. The book contains retelling of many fairytales (mainly from a minor charachter's point of view) and these are jems: beautifully written, highly original and thought provoking. It's not often that you see such an original and well written book.
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4.0 out of 5 starsSplendid (but do a little fact checking as well)
By Stewart M TOP 1000 REVIEWER on 4 July 2013
Format: Paperback
The central premise of this book is that the stories that people tell are heavily influenced by the environment in which they (the stories) are created. This makes sense.

Flowing from this is the idea that the majority of Fairy Tales - taken here to be those transcribed from the oral tradition by the Brothers Grimm - were created within and about forests. Again, given the geographic origin of these tales, this also makes sense.

By putting these ideas together the author suggests we can learn about both forests and ourselves by looking again at these Fairy Stories. But this is not just a reworking of the "psychological" arguments analysis of Fairy Tales - where every tale has a deeper meaning - but an attempt to make sense of the themes of the tales by reference to the places they were made. And by and large this works.

The book is presented as a series of paired chapters where the first one these is based within in a named real woodland - mainly, but not exclusively, ancient woodlands. The second of the pair is a reworking a fairy tale. This does not mean its just Snow White with computers - but often a major retelling. This builds a wonderful example of the author's contention that landscapes create stories. Each woodland is different and so is each story.

I think its clear that the author loves both woodlands and fairy stories and by blending both into a single book I thinks she hopes we will come to see greater value in both. The "woodland" chapters seek to explore the "real" woodlands - with an emphasis on ecology and landscape history, while the "fairy tale" chapters are more about the symbolic importance of woodlands to story telling. This feels like a bold effort to link science and art in a way that improves both.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsForests and fairytales
By Half Man, Half Book on 14 Dec. 2013
Format: Hardcover
In this book Maitland is looking at the role that woods and forests have played in our national identity, primarily through stories, by also as a source of employment, fuel and food.

the book is split into 12 chapters, with 12 sub chapters. Each chapter describes a visit to a different wood or forest that she goes to. She visits these woods all around the country, one each month, as they are significant in some way, either for the variety of the species, or they historical or cultural significance. In these she explores the links that woods have with fairy stories, and the types of characters in these stories.

The small sub chapters are modern interpretations of well known fairy stories that she herself has written.

I really enjoyed the main part of the book about the forests and the history and cultural significance that trees have in our national psyche. Less enjoyable were the fairy tales. She speaks in the final chapter about children and new citizens being given a little book of classic fairy tales, and I feel that if she was going to include these she would have been better including the originals.
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5.0 out of 5 starsI love this book
By Marnie FE on 11 Mar. 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Sara Maitland has tapped into the soul of this country; the need for trees and stories. It is a wonderful personal guide to some of the great woods of this island, but it also explores faerie tales in a modern way. We all need stories, we all need the insights they offer. I love this book and am so glad I have it as a tangible book not an e-book as I will go back to it. I have started giving it as presents as well - a sure sign a book has touched me.
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3.0 out of 5 starsWhy have German Folk Tales for UK Forests?
By H. A. Weedon TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on 7 July 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This work, which is based on some good ideas and is good in parts, ultimately fails because it tries to relate German (Grimm) folk tales to English, Welsh and Scottish woods. Since there's such a wide variety of UK folk tales to call upon this really does seem a strange way of doing things. Worse still, the author's retelling of twelve Grimm fairy tales leaves much to be desired and often misses the point of the originals.

A case in point is her re-writing of the Grimm Bothers version of Rumpelstiltskin when she could have used the English (Suffolk) version of the tale entitled Tom Tit Tot and its sequel, The Gypsy Woman, both of which have their roots in ancient times when the county of Suffolk was divided in two by a great forest running from north to south right through the middle of the county. Remnants of this great forest still exist with one of the largest situated between Ipswich and Hadleigh and called Wolves Wood, which is currently owned and managed by the RSPB. It was one of the last places in England where wolves were found and this great forest was responsible for Suffolk having been divided into two administrative Counties: East Suffolk and West Suffolk, with Suffolk not becoming a single county until after the boundary changes instigated during the early Nineteen Seventies.

This is just one example of how the book could have been made so much more relevant and instructive had the author researched more deeply into the history of each forest mentioned in her book. Had she done so she would certainly have discovered a wealth of fairy tales actually invented in and relating to each of the forests. Come to that, Sara Maitland could have invented her own fairy and folk tales and related one of them to each wood mentioned in her book.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A brilliant gently written book - I want to go hunting all the forests listed for a start.

Published 12 days ago by J. West
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Interesting with the fairy stories too.

Published 1 month ago by lmf
3.0 out of 5 starsA walk in the woods with a dull school governess.

Gossip from the forest is an exploration of the literary roots of our fairy tales and the characters and themes that make them up. Read more

Published 4 months ago by L. Phillips
1.0 out of 5 starsBoring

Didn't finish it - boring

Published 8 months ago by jack
4.0 out of 5 starsit got better. For the geographical pedants amongst us

Hmmmn, nearly lost me through the geographical mistakes in earliest chapters. Once I learnt to ignore these, it got better. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsI love this book

I love this book. Maitland writes beautifully & like the long line of writers & folklorists she builds on, she ties strands of landscape, character and morality together... Read more

Published 11 months ago by J. Clayton
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

I love this book, she has such a unique style of writing.

Published 14 months ago by Elgan
5.0 out of 5 starsGet out there and look at trees

Idiosyncratic and informative

Published 19 months ago by Volpeblu
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Need to finish reading, very interesting

Published 20 months ago by michelle
5.0 out of 5 starsHappy receiver!

The person I gifted this for was so happy!

Published 23 months ago by I write reviews on the toilet

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