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The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Literary fiction

The God of the Woods

Repeat author

Liz Moore is back at Book of the Month – other BOTMs include Long Bright River.

by Liz Moore

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Quick take

Propelled by a mysterious disappearance, this epic saga explores the cracks and divisions of a summer camp community.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, 400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Nonlinear_Timeline

    Nonlinear timeline

  • Illustrated icon, Rural

    Rural

Synopsis

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide.

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances.

Content warning

This book contains mentions of domestic abuse.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of The God of the Woods.

The God of the Woods

Louise

August 1975

The bed is empty.

Louise, the­ counselor—​­twenty-​­three, ­short-limbed, ­rasp-voiced, jolly—​­stands barefoot on the warm rough planks of the cabin called Balsam and processes the absence of a body in the lower bunk by the door. Later on, the ten seconds that pass between sight and inference will serve to her as evidence that time is a human construct, that it can slow or accelerate in the presence of emotion, of chemicals in the blood.

The bed is empty.

The cabin’s single ­flashlight—­the absence of which is used, even in daylight, to indicate that campers have gone to the­ latrines—is in its home on a shelf by the door.

Louise turns slowly in a circle, naming the girls she can see.

Melissa. Melissa. Jennifer. Michelle. Amy. Caroline. Tracy. Kim.

Eight campers. Nine beds. She counts and counts again.

At last, when she can no longer defer it, she lets one name bob to the surface of her mind: Barbara.

The empty bed is Barbara’s.

She closes her eyes. She imagines herself returning, for the rest of her life, to this place and this moment: a lonely time traveler, a ghost, haunting the cabin called Balsam, willing a body to appear where there is none. Willing the girl herself, Barbara, to walk through the door. To say she has been in the washroom, to say she forgot the rule about taking the flashlight, to apologize disarmingly, as she has done before.

But Louise knows that Barbara won’t do any of these things. She senses, for reasons she can’t quite articulate, that Barbara is gone.

Of all the campers, Louise thinks. Of all the campers to go missing.

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Why I love it

While most people love a sunny beach day come July, I prefer my summers moody. Liz Moore’s newest novel, The God of the Woods, speaks directly to this desire for a more melancholic exploration of the sticky season, set against a lush backdrop of the Adirondack Mountains and the frenzied heat of escalating secrets.

The God of the Woods begins with a disappearance from a summer camp. Barbara, daughter of the wealthy Van Laar family, is nowhere to be found—a concern made even more alarming by the fact that her parents own the camp she’s vanished from. As the search party takes shape, the townspeople exchange nervous glances; the case clearly echoes Barbara’s own brother’s vanishing over a decade earlier. But the family seems determined to avoid any comparison between the two children’s misfortunes. And the longer the investigation continues, the more is revealed about just how much they have to hide.

The God of the Woods is a beautifully written novel with a kaleidoscope of perspectives that form a richly layered puzzle of personalities and motives. The setting is evocative; the mystery is compelling; the themes are deep and vast. Every person who populates these pages has a rich interior life and a profound well of unimaginable pain that slowly reveals itself as the plot unfolds. If you are looking for a summer soul-ache, this is the book for you.

Other books by Liz Moore

Member ratings (20,784)

Literary fiction
Intermezzo
The Book of George
Real Americans
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Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The God of the Woods
Same As It Ever Was
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True Biz
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The Husbands
The Lady Waiting
The Other Valley
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Happy All the Time
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Let Us Descend
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Shark Heart
Transcendent Kingdom
Hello Beautiful
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Ask Again, Yes
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Infinite Country
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The Verifiers
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I Have Some Questions for You
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Age of Vice
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The Secret History
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Happiness Falls
The Gifted School
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The Knockout Queen
Little Monsters
Yerba Buena
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The Mothers
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The Sympathizer
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Lot
An American Marriage
The Animators
The Mars Room
Exit West
White Fur
Woman No. 17
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Eat Only When You're Hungry
Rainbirds
A Ladder to the Sky
Golden Child
The Goldfinch
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P
& Sons
The Association of Small Bombs
Lolly Willowes
All Grown Up
Marlena
Signal Fires
Someday, Maybe
Woman of Light
Marrying the Ketchups
The Shards
Literary fiction
View all
Intermezzo
The Book of George
Real Americans
Wellness
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The God of the Woods
Same As It Ever Was
Annie Bot
Bear
Mercury
True Biz
Family Happiness
The Husbands
The Lady Waiting
The Other Valley
Hard by a Great Forest
Good Material
The Bullet Swallower
Happy All the Time
Alice Sadie Celine
Let Us Descend
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Shark Heart
Transcendent Kingdom
Hello Beautiful
Dominicana
What's Mine and Yours
The Unsettled
Ask Again, Yes
Vladimir
Infinite Country
The Prophets
Normal People
The Verifiers
Salvage the Bones
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
I Have Some Questions for You
Black Buck
The History of Love
Age of Vice
Paper Names
The Light Pirate
The Secret History
The Kite Runner
Memorial
The Half Moon
Happiness Falls
The Gifted School
The Death of Vivek Oji
The Knockout Queen
Little Monsters
Yerba Buena
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Free Food for Millionaires
A Burning
The Mothers
The Water Dancer
Small Country
The Sympathizer
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Lot
An American Marriage
The Animators
The Mars Room
Exit West
White Fur
Woman No. 17
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Eat Only When You're Hungry
Rainbirds
A Ladder to the Sky
Golden Child
The Goldfinch
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P
& Sons
The Association of Small Bombs
Lolly Willowes
All Grown Up
Marlena
Signal Fires
Someday, Maybe
Woman of Light
Marrying the Ketchups
The Shards