The Heart of a Distant Forest - by Philip Lee Williams (Paperback)

About the Book

In Williams's southern novel, a retired professor returns to his family home on a lake in central Georgia to die, and yet he has never felt so alive, so ready to learn about the natural world around him. He is ready for solitude, but a young country boy disrupts his search for order and rekindles memories he thought long dead.

Book Synopsis

Retired professor Andrew Lachlan has returned to his family home on a lake in central Georgia to die. And yet he has never felt so alive, so ready to learn about the natural world around him. Having taught all his life, he is ready for solitude. But a young country boy, Willie Sullivan, disrupts Lachlan's search for order and rekindles memories he thought long dead.

Lachlan also finds Callie McKenzie, a woman he loved years earlier, and they soon begin to see in each other reflections of the lives they once led. Lachlan's journal of his year by the lake leads him to a deeper understanding of himself and the world.

Review Quotes

Williams's The Heart of a Distant Forest is, quite simply, one of the finest works of fiction in the history of Georgia literature--a lyrical, tender story of a man who rediscovers his life on his journey to death. Williams's writing is more than masterful storytelling; it is word--art. The South has few writers his equal.

--Terry Kay "author of The Valley of Light"

The Heart of a Distant Forest is like Shadow Pond, where Lachlan lives: natural, nourishing, quiet, and turbulent, inviting, and--in places--deep. Test it for yourself.

--Knoxville News-Sentinel

An auspicious talent . . . Williams handles his heavily weighted theme adroitly, never overstepping into sentimentality. His writing is colorful, knowledgeable, taut. . . . An unexpectedly rich reading experience.

--Fort Worth News-Tribune

Despite its somber undertones, the novel resonates with a deeper joy and optimism. . . . An elegantly moving portrait of life's dignity, even at death.

--Booklist

It is precisely because Lachlan is not a larger-than-life character that we come to care and find ourselves moving eagerly with him from one day to the next.

--New York Times Book Review

One sentence into the book and you've got lyric poetry; 'Morning is rising in silence.' Lovely. It gets even better with passages you underline for sheer beauty, delight, and wisdom. Between these pages rests some of the best writing I've come across since Alice Walker's The Color Purple, but in a very quiet and very different way and life and tone.

--Columbia State

Williams has a particular gift for creating beautiful imagery that encompasses not only a particular scene, but also the emotions associated with it. The Heart of a Distant Forest is, in short, a beautifully written work by a talented Southern author.

--Spartanburg Herald-Journal

About the Author

Philip Lee Williams is the author of fourteen books, including "The True and Authentic History of Jenny Dorset "(Georgia) and a volume of poetry, "Elegies for the Water." His most recent novel is "The Campfire Boys." He is a winner of many literary awards and a Georgia Governor's Award in the Humanities and will be inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2010. He lives with his family in Oconee County, Georgia.