also by liz moore
Long Bright River
The Unseen World
Heft
The Words of Every Song
riverhead books
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Copyright © 2024 by Liz Moore, Inc.
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Map on this page by the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Moore, Liz, 1983– author.
Title: The god of the woods / Liz Moore.
Description: First U.S. hardcover. | New York: Riverhead Books, 2024.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023033415 (print) | LCCN 2023033416 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593418918 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593418932 (ebook)
Subjects: LCGFT: Novels.
Classification: LCC PS3613.O5644 G64 2024 (print) | LCC PS3613.O5644 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20230720
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023033415
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023033416
International edition ISBN: 9780593719701
Cover design: Grace Han
Cover art: Detail of White horse in a wooded landscape, 1791 by Sawrey Gilpin (oil on canvas) / Photo © Christie's Images/Bridgeman Images
Book design by Meighan Cavanaugh, adapted for ebook by Cora Wigen
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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For my sister, Rebecca, who also knows these woods
Contents
I
Barbara
II
Bear
III
When Lost
IV
Visitors
V
Found
VI
Survival
VII
Self-Reliance
Acknowledgments
_147434559_
Many a pedestrian on reaching these woods is incredulous of the danger which he is told will menace him if he ventures out alone to indulge in his favorite pastime. But let him rest assured that there is no question as to the reality of this danger—the danger of losing himself in the forest. That is the only thing to be dreaded in the Adirondack woods!
—From “Lost in the Adirondacks: Warning to Visitors to the North Woods; What Not to Do When You Lose Your Way and How Not to Lose It,” The New York Times, March 16, 1890
