Forests of the Heart

Forests of the Heart (2000) — The tenth book in the Newford series by Charles de Lint.

Category (Adult or YA)[]

Adult

Genres: "contemporary fantasy laced with horror, suspense and magic" ~ Rambles Mag — "Mythic Fantasy" ~ Author

Description[]

✥ In the Old Country, they called them the Gentry: ancient spirits of the land, magical, amoral, and dangerous. When the Irish emigrated to North America, some of the Gentry followed...only to find that the New World already had spirits of its own, the manitou. Now generations have passed, and the Irish have made homes in the new land, but the Gentry still wander homeless on the city streets. Gathering in the shadows, they bide their time and dream of power. As their dreams grow harder, darker, fiercer, so do the Gentry themselves—appearing, to those with the sight to see them, as hard and dangerous men, invariably dressed in black.

Bettina can see the Gentry, and knows them for what they are. Part Indian, part Mexican, she was raised by her grandmother to understand the spirit world. Now she lives in wintry Kellygnow, a massive old house run as an arts colony on the outskirts of Newford, a world away from the Southwestern desert of her youth. Outside her nighttime window, she often spies the dark man, squatting in the snow, smoking, brooding, waiting. She calls them los lobos, the wolves, and stays clear of them—until the night one follows her into the woods, and takes her hand… ~ Charles de Lint: Forests of the Heart (2000) Description

✥ (continued) Ellie, an independent young sculptor, is another with magic in her blood, but she refuses to believe it, even though she, too, sees the dark men. A strange old woman has summoned Ellie to Kellygnow to create a mask for her based on an ancient Celtic artifact. It is the mask of the mythic Summer King—another thing that Ellie does not believe in. Yet lack of belief won't dim the power of the mask, or its dreadful intent.

Once again Charles de Lint weaves the mythic traditions of many cultures into a seamless cloth, bringing folklore, music, and unforgettable characters to life on modern city streets. ~ Goodreads

Excerpt[]

Charles de Lint: Forests of the Heart (2000) Excerpt

Themes[]

Celtic folklore (the Gentry or fairy-folk, the Green Man), and Native American folklore skinwalkers, manitou) and suggests how they might have blended or clashed with the arrival of Europeans to North America. Added in, is Spanish-American lore and magic with its own blend of Christian and native elements. ~ Charles de Lint: Forests of the Heart (2000) Description

World-Building[]

Settings[]

Newford
Tucson, AZ,
spirit world
Kellygnow

Supernatural / Mythical Elements[]

Faeries, Gentry, magical mask, skinwalkers, manitou, Africa's Anansi the Spider, Native American shape-changers, Celtic and Native American mythologies,

Gentry: ancient spirits of the land, magical, amoral, and dangerous; want to summon a Green Man to fight the native spirits—and they want to use Donal's body to help them do it;
"Hard men": displaced violent Irish spirits, also known as the Gentry and los lobos
los lobos:
Green Man: Gentry want to summon one to fight the native spirits
Manitous: Land spirits already residing in North America;
Skinwalkers:
Anansi the Spider:

World[]

It deals with Latin American healers, displaced Irish genius loci, winter, creativity and other seemingly unrelated elements. While a few old friends make cameo appearances, the cast's main characters are all new. ~ Charles de Lint

More about the Gentry: elemental spirits of the land; old, displaced, amoral gods who toy with humans whenever they choose. When the Irish emigrated to the New World, a few Gentry came, too. But there was no place for them; the new land had its own land-spirits, the manitous. Homeless, the Gentry turned hard, and when an ambitious human offers a way to claim a place of their own, their suppressed rage comes to a boil. — They want to summon a Green Man to fight the native spirits—and they want to use Donal's body to help them do it. ~ Booklist, American Library Association (Charles de Lint: Forests of the Heart)

Characters[]

Characters	What	About
Bettina San Miguel	Mexican-Indian healer	power comes from her father, a hawk-spirit; Bettina, Tommy, Hunter and Ellie must stop Donal;
Tommy Raven	Native man, former alcoholic	does what he can to help others in the position he was once in; 16 aunts in regular contact with the spirit world; Bettina, Tommy, Hunter, Ellie must stop Donal;
Hunter Cole	record store owner	Miki's employer; warned by a group of men (who may not be human) to stay away from Ellie; never believed in anything supernatural; Bettina, Tommy, Hunter, Ellie must stop Donal;
Ellie Jones	sculpter	hired to recast a mysterious ancient mask; never believed in anything supernatural; shocked to learn she has enormous magical powers; Bettina, Tommy, Hunter, Ellie must stop Donal;
Miki Greer		revelation of the Spirit world is a horrible confirmation of her Irish father's angry rantings;
Donal Greer	Miki's bro	involved with the violent "hard men" (Gentry and los lobos); Bettina, Tommy, Hunter, Ellie must stop Donal; eternally depressed;

To expand the table, right-press on a row of the table or (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add

Cover Artists[]

Forests of the Heart-Dust Jacket Art — Forests of the Heart—Dust Jacket Art, by John Jude Palencar

John Jude Palencar — 2000-HC & 2001-tp by Tor ~ Source: isfdb: Cover: Forests of the Heart
Philip Lee Harvey — 2002-pb by Gollancz-UK ~ Source: ISFdb: Cover: Forests of the Heart

Publishing Information[]

Publishers: Tor Books, H.B. Fenn (Canada), Orion/Gollancz (UK), ,

Hardcover, First Ed., 397 pages, Pub: Jun 2000 by Tor—ISBN: 0312865198
Paperback, 400 pages, Pub: August 11th 2001 by Tor Books—ISBN: 0312875681

Publishing Note: The hardcover edition of Forests of the Heart was published by Tor Books in June 2000. The Canadian distributor for Tor Books is H.B. Fenn and Co., Ltd. The trade paperback will be available August, 2001 from Tor and H.B. Fenn in North America. The British edition was published by Orion under their Gollancz imprint in July 2001. ~ Charles de Lint

First Sentence[]

Like her sister, Bettina San Miguel was a small, slender woman in her mid-twenties, dark-haired and darker-eyed; part Indio, part Mexican, part something older still. ~ Shelfari

Quotes[]

Goodreads | Charles de Lint Quotes

Awards[]

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Finalist for Adult Literature (2001)
Nebula (Finalist, 2000: Best Novel)

~ Source: Shelfari

Trivia[]

Notes[]

External Links[]

Book:

Charles de Lint: Forests of the Heart (2000) Description ~ Author
Forests of the Heart (Newford, #10) ~ Goodreads
Newford series - Urban Fantasy Wiki ~ Wikia
Bibliography: Forests of the Heart ~ ISFdb
Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint ~ Shelfari (Characters, etc)

Artists:

John Jude Palencar - Summary Bibliography ~ ISFdb

Reviews: