Author(s): Sue Miller

Fiction.

Sue Miller's finest novel yet - a compelling and poignant masterpiece about the deepest, truest things in family life - of death and love, growing up and growing older

One minute John is the cornerstone of Eva's world, rock to his two teenage step-daughters and his own son Theo; the next he is tossed through the air in a traffic accident, and killed.

His sudden death changes everything. Eva struggles with the desolation of loneliness, finding herself drawn back to her untrustworthy ex-husband; Emily, the eldest daughter, grapples with her new-found independence and responsibility. Little Theo can only begin to fathom the permanence of his father's death. But for the middle child Daisy, John's absence opens up a whole world of confusion. Just at the onset of adolescence and blossoming sexuality, Daisy is exposed to the terrifying duplicity of life, the instability that hovers just beyond the safety of parental love, and the powerlessness of that love to protect or even console her. In steps a man only too willing to take advantage of her emotions.

Lost in the Forest is a powerful and gorgeous layered testament to the fluidity of life and the web of connections that bind us, divide us, and drive us on. A finely observed portrait of marriage and family; an intensely sensual journey through the consuming realms of grief and sex; and an unforgettable evocation of adolescent yearning and vulnerability, this is Sue Miller at her inimitable best. First published 2005.