I received a copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

At first, Charles' story was not compelling. My own biases from reading books about kids moving to America and learning about their history influenced me. Within 30 pages; however, I couldn't release the book. I'm on vacation and any moment of inactivity meant I was reading this novel.

The author creates a fanatical narrative between present and historical day through the eyes of Charles. His wins, losses, loves, and heartbreaks are intimately felt as are those of his ancestors through which he is a sort of medium. I felt feelings stir inside myself as I questioned what pulls me in life, what are my threads, and how do I put that back in the world.

A wonderfully written historical fiction with plenty of introspection to force a pause. I highly recommend this novel. ( )

Charles Fontaine belonged in the Ardennes forests, taught to love the land and its history by his beloved uncle. But then his father yanked him from the lore of the family lands and moved to New York City just ahead of the law and the consequences of his own crooked dealings. He pushed Charles into law school and then into joining his law firm.

Seventeen years passed before Charles returned to his forest home to deal with his uncle's death, settling the estate, and selling it for his father. There he comes to learn that not only has his father arranged for his uncle's murder so that he could sell the land to a developer, but that he has badly used and betrayed Charles' own half-brother, a brother he knew nothing of.

The only real question I had with this lovely and often lyrical story is how Charles could so easily and completely been converted from the depth of his love of his uncle and the forests, but how he could become almost a carbon copy of his father, a man he neither loved nor trusted. ( )