Tales From The Edge Of The Woods

"If you live here by choice", Willem Lange writes of the northern New England he's called home for half a century, "you pay your dues, take what you can get, and endure what you have to. It's well worth it". These eighteen reminiscences, character sketches, and sometimes heart-rending accounts of life among the ubiquitous pines and unyielding granite show a deep reverence and an abiding respect for this unique corner of the world. We meet, for example, Baddy, the crusty timber camp cook whose love of hunting ends the day he witnesses the needless death of a fawn. We experience rites of passage: an old man determined to spend one last night alone in the deep woods; a young man discovering for the first time the indelible beauty of a northern September morning; and Lange's own realization that, "for the first time, I'll be the oldest man in camp, and my son will be carrying most of my pack." This intimate collection of stories is a quiet quest for meaning in a rugged physical and psychic terrain.

The odds are stacked against Emma. Fatherless and poor in a remote village where men, money and faith determine everything, her only hope for a decent life is to marry before her eighteenth birthday. Though her prospects aren't good and her options aren't appealing, to live as an unmarried woman is a life sentence of silence and solitude. Emma has to make a match. But when a beautiful, antlered boy appears in her dreams and tempts her to join him in the forbidden woods, another path opens to her. Finally, after a life devoid of possibilities, Emma has a choice to make: to run from her future, or fight for it.

From the critically acclaimed author of the novel The Good Brother and memoir My Father the Pornographer, Out of the Woods is Chris Offutt’s fiercely original short story collection the New York Times calls “a magical book”. Arriving seven years after Offutt’s debut collection Kentucky Straight, Out of the Woods returns a masterly writer to the form which garnered him not only critical praise but many prestigious awards. Offutt, who “draws landscape and constructs dialogue with the eyes and ears of a native son” (The Miami Herald), is on strong home turf here, capturing those who have left the Kentucky hills and long to return. These nine stories of gravediggers and drifters, gamblers and truck drivers a long way from home, are tales so full of hard edges they can't help but tell some hard truths.

"A psychological tale of myth and fantasy, societal alienation, climate catastrophe, and the fear, paranoia, and violence of contemporary life"--

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality—not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own. “A meditation on solitude, wildness and survival.” —The Wall Street Journal In 1986, a shy and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothing, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life—why did he leave? what did he learn?—as well as the challenges he has faced since returning to the world. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded.

When Old Man Winter lets his snow ponies out of the barn, they run into the world, and everything that they touch turns white.

Storm, Aurora, and Anything Eden live in a decaying mansion on the edge of the wilds with their erstwhile father and indolent mother. When an accident leaves them orphaned and at the mercy of the sinister Dr. DeWilde, these three courageous and eccentric sisters are forced to flee into the woods, where they encounter kidnappers, sweet-filled orphanages, mountains of ice, diamond mines, and some ravenously hungry wolves.Taking inspiration from numerous fairytales and weaving them into a wholly original story, Into the Woods is a whirlwind of a novel, full of imaginative happenings and dastardly deeds.

Everyone loves a good ghost story, and Haunted Trail Tales will make the hairs on your neck stand on edge. A collection of beloved contemporary and classic ghostly tales, this anthology is sure to spoke even the most unrattled. Featuring twelve stories from a variety of well-known authors, this is the perfect book to read aloud from by the campfire. Contributors include H. G. Wells, Victor Sawdon Pritchett, T.V. Olsen, Ambrose Bierce, and more.

Where exactly is the edge of the woods?” is asked early on in this eclectic assemblage of stories about a powerful wizard, caring elves, and mystical talking animals who inhabit a breathtakingly beautiful forest. Occasionally, humans encounter this fantastical place where timeless events provoke contemporary resonances and astonishing results. Care for the environment, the healing bonds of family and a bear who longs to read are at once mythic and timely. Good and evil struggle in often poetic prose creating images that linger. “How do we get there?” a character asks and learns “You arrive by mysterious means at this magical place.” Fortunately for us, all we must do is open this intriguing book and turn the page.

"Inspired by the author's grandfather's experiences living in a lodge in the woods, a story of how people and animals survive a forest fire in a small Canadian town"--