Hard by a Great Forest

A skilled new voice in fiction: Moving in an instant from wild humour to aching sadness, Hard by a Great Forest is an astonishing novel, powerful and personal, that will appeal to readers of A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka (over 1 million copies sold TCM), Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (59,000 copies TCM) and Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (94,000 copies TCM)

Leo Vardiashvili came to London with his family as a refugee from Georgia when he was twelve years old. He studied English Literature at Queen Mary University of London. Hard by a Great Forest is his first novel.

A sensitive exploration of grief, memory, loss and the immigrant experience woven seamlessly into a propulsive narrative
Astonishingly crafted with history, candour, beauty, grief and just a little magic. A book like no other, from an imagination like no other. Vardiashvili has written a triumph
Rich with irony and animated with astonishing humanity, this tale of a young Georgian refugee's odyssey into his birthplace to rescue family left my heart bruised and battered and aching for more
This novel blows open the heart of the past. It's a mystery, it's a picaresque, it's a comedy, and it's an authentic song of belonging and unbelonging ... By turns political and philosophical, it introduces a fine new voice in contemporary fiction
A wildly charming debut - propulsive, funny, and profound
Propulsive, profoundly moving and rich with humor and heartbreak, Hard by a Great Forest mesmerised me from the very first page. Inspired by Vardiashvili's own family story, this novel will capture your heart