REVIEW: We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson

Blurb:

When the internet collapsed, it took the world with it, leaving its digital ghosts behind – and they are hungry. Former photojournalist Katerina fled the overrun cities to the relative safety of her grandmother’s village on the edge of a forest, where she lives a solitary life of herbal medicine and beekeeping.

When a wordless boy finds her in the marketplace with nothing but her name in his pocket, her curiosity won’t allow her to turn him away. But haunting his arrival are rumours of harvest failure and a rampant digital disease stirring up the ghosts, and the mood in the village starts to sour.

Accused of witchcraft, Katerina and Stefan escape into the forest, searching for his missing father and the truth behind the disease. If there is a cure, Katerina alone might find it, but first she must find the courage to trust others – because the ghosts that follow her aren’t just digital.

Review:

The internet dies and comes back to life, and you can’t google to find out why.

This is a quiet, thoughtful, delicate tale about humanity, kindness, connection; one that slowly - very slowly - unwraps ideas about what it means to be alive in an evocative way. It might seem like a general dystopia in a land of plague and societal collapse but the story really is about self discovery and acceptance that happens to occur just after the end of the world.

I adored the small details the author used to create such a magically immersive setting — just a few pages in I loved the fancy, expensive briefcase from before now used to hold carrots. The juxtaposition of strange digital ghosts and remnants of civilisation to the comfort of a living room with a dozing cat. It also made a bold and jarring statement about the futility of racism, sexism and judgement when you think about how fragile and magical life can be.

A refreshingly unique folk-esque apocalypse with enchanting storytelling, poetic prose, undeniable characters and hauntingly relevant commentary about the need for togetherness and kinship.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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