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“War trumps most things, Leo Vardiashvili observes early on in his poignant and often painfully comic novel about the effect of violence and conflict on those who must live through them.”
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“Vardiashvili’s heartbreaking debut novel lays bare the effects that displacement can have over generations and illuminates the resilience of those who have suffered and still found their way to happiness.”
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“This debut novel captures both the long scars of collective trauma and the indomitable spirit of those determined to remember and survive.”
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“If you like your fiction Kafkaesque, try Hard by a Great Forest, a debut novel by Leo Vardiashvili (Riverhead, Jan. 30). When Saba Sulidze-Donauri’s father disappears in the mountains of Georgia, his native country, and then Saba’s older brother disappears while looking for him, Saba naturally goes after them, finding “himself in a world full of menace where the borders of the real and surreal blur.” Our starred review calls it an “unforgettable aria to a lost homeland, full of anger, sorrow, and longing.””
Articles, Press & Interviews
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“In the shadow of Lenin's fingertip.
Using Georgia as an example, the author Leo Vardiashvili tells of the difficult path of the former Soviet republics to Europe - and of the people who suffer as a result. A visit to Tbilisi, at his family's dinner table.”
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“Back to Georgia, where ‘a guest is a gift from God’”
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“An unforgettable aria to a lost homeland, full of anger, sorrow, and longing.”
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“One of the hottest tips for the big prizes, this debut caused a sensation among publishers in the UK and abroad. Three men from the same family return to the Georgia they fled two decades previously, where a sudden disappearance sparks a Kafka-esque odyssey of home, history and the trauma of war.”
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“By day, the author Leo Vardiashvili is a tax advisor at the auditing firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young), but right now he is free from his job to talk about his debut novel "At the edge of the great forest" with journalists from the total of nineteen countries that publish the book in translation.”
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“Ultimately, this debut novel is about the individual and collective trauma of war, and the indomitable spirit of people determined to survive—and to remember those who didn’t.”
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“Leo Vardiashvili in conversation about his debut novel, a tale of family, war and loss”
Hard by a Great Forest Reviews
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‘Beguiling… Vivid, nostalgia-tinged images are littered throughout Leo Vardiashvili’s moving debut… Vardiashvili mixes a breezy tone with glinting lyricism’
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“A gripping, genre-bending novel explores Georgia’s troubled history. Hard by a Great Forest is at once a puzzle hunt and an affecting meditation on exile”
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“Taking its title from a line in a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Vardiashvili’s sprawling narrative, part comic, part tragic, abounds in mysteries, monsters, magic and terrors. It’s a spellbinding achievement.”
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“‘Hard by a Great Forest’ has a commercial-fiction spring in its step … Vardiashvili also has captured the winking, world-weary humor and magic-realist touches that mark a lot of literature from Europe’s war-torn corners … The final third of ‘Hard by a Great Forest’ … finds a more lyrical and heartbreaking register. War and loss and Baba Yaga and the voices of the old dead are always haunting us.”
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“The title is taken from the first line of “Hansel and Gretel” and, like that fairy tale, this novel is a playful and sinister narrative about two siblings sent to the woods by their father.”
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“Hard by a Great Forest is a sensitive exploration of grief, memory, loss and the immigrant experience woven seamlessly into a propulsive narrative.”
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“A biblical flood that saw escaped zoo animals wandering the streets of the Georgian capital Tbilisi furnishes the surreal backdrop of Leo Vardiashvili’s debut. A compelling novel about war, family separation and ambivalent homecoming, its tale of sacrifice, guilt and betrayal is propelled by dark mysteries and offset by glorious shafts of humour.”
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“'Hard by a Great Forest' is a 'spellbinding' novel about a separated family.”
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“The hippo who went shopping: a vivid portrayal of the refugee experience. A real-life zoo breakout is the first in a series of tumultuous events to befall the refugee hero of Leo Vardiashvili’s impressive debut novel”
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“The magic and mystery of Georgia: Hard by a Great Forest, by Leo Vardiashvili.”
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“Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili: Conflict, escape, a family split by war – and we’re still on the first page.”
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“…the story is propelled by political cynicism, by cigarettes and vodka, one can see streaks of Emmanuel Carrère and Jean-Patrick Manchette in the writing. Cunning and unstinting, humanist and self-aware, Vardiashvili nears noir excellence. Even more exquisite are the descriptions of Tbilisi, written as though the author was long at sea and is now desperately grasping for connection.”
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“It is difficult to read Georgian author Leo Vardiashvili’s Hard By A Great Forest without being sucked into a game of trying to separate truth from fiction… The tenor of this unplanned homecoming is one that hovers between the barely believable and the fantastical, involving cryptic Hansel and Gretel references, ghostly voices and vengeful officials. A surreal clash of severe dysfunction with modernity is immediately established.”
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“How a young man created a novel out of yearning to go home to Georgia”
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“An unforgettable aria to a lost homeland, full of anger, sorrow, and longing.”
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“The tense plot ups the ante from one narrow escape to the next, and Vardiashvili layers his seamless blend of genres (police thriller, fairy tale quest, coming-of-age story) with lush depictions of Georgia’s landscape, culture, and resilient people. This will leave readers breathless.”
Radio, Video & Podcasts
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“Leo Vardiashvili arrived in London as a 13 year old refugee from Georgia. His family was forced to flee after their country descended into civil war after breaking away from the Soviet Union. Hard by a Great Forest, his debut novel, draws on this experience, and is winning high praise from reviewers.”
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“Leo Vardiashvili joins Neil Denny to talk about his debut novel Hard By A Great Forest.”
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“Leo Vardiashvili on his debut novel Hard by a Great Forest - Nikki Bedi is joined in the studio by Georgian author Leo Vardiashvili and cultural critic William Lee Adams.”
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“We join Leo Vardiashvili for a trip back to his native Georgia, and his return to London, to hear more about his debut novel, Hard By A Great Forest, which blends gripping mystery with questions about how we remember and why we forget.”
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“Book Club episode with the astounding debut author Leo Vardiashvili, his book Hard by a Great Forest has been endorsed by the likes of literary legend Khaled Hosseini and was swept up by Bloomsbury in an overnight pre-empt and we cannot emphasise enough how much we loved it.”
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“'Hard by a Great Forest' traces a family's journey back to a land they fleed.”
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“Jasper Fforde, Amy Brown and Leo Vardiashvili on surprises, fairytales and rickrolling”
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“Hard by a Great Forest landing page by Riverhead Books including a note from the author, interactive map and book club resources”