by Annie Proulx
Reviewed by Linda:
Sometimes a novel captures a historical tragedy more powerfully than does a work of history. In this instance, the author - winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award - writes a heart-breaking tale of the destruction of the world’s forests, particularly the boreal forests of North America. The story begins with 2 penniless young Frenchmen, who arrive in New France in the seventeenth century to become woodcutters—barkskins. Their story and that of their descendants, including those with Native American ancestry, traces the logging business and its devastating consequences for centuries.