'I gasped; laughed; and wept my way through it' KHALED HOSSEINI 'Tender and raw and funny; it's a rattling good read' COLUM McCANN 'A wildly charming debut - propulsive; funny; and profound' ELIF BATUMAN Tbilisi's littered with memories that await me like landmines. The dearly departed voices I silenced long ago have come back without my permission. The situation calls for someone with a plan. I didn't even bring toothpaste. Saba's father is missing; and the trail leads back to Tbilisi; Georgia. It's been two decades since Irakli fled his war-torn homeland with two young sons; now grown men. Two decades since he saw their mother; who stayed so they could escape. At long last; Tbilisi has lured him home. But when Irakli's phone calls stop; a mystery begins... Arriving in the city as escaped zoo animals prowl the streets; Saba picks up the trail of clues: strange graffiti; bewildering messages transmitted through the radio; pages from his father's unpublished manuscript scattered like breadcrumbs. As the voices of those left behind pull at the edges of his world; Saba will discover that all roads lead back to the past; and to secrets swallowed up by the great forests of Georgia. In a winding pursuit through the magic and mystery of returning to a lost homeland; Hard by a Great Forest is a rare; searching tale of home; memory and sacrifice - of one family's mission to rescue one another; and put the past to rest.