March 2026 Book Club

March Book – North Woods by Daniel Mason

The novel’s events span a period from the mid-1600s to the present day and transpire against the backdrop of a single location: a fictional region of western Massachusetts known simply as the “north woods”.  Many different characters inhabit this spot, first in a rustic cabin and later in a yellow house built next to the cabin. The text tells the stories of each generation largely through limited third-person narration from the perspective of the principal character living there during a particular era. Some segments of the novel unfold through first-person narration in the form of letters or memoranda written by the main character of a particular section. The book follows the lives of a varied set of characters over a broad swath of US history.