by Jean Hegland
“I wonder,” said Eva, rising to dance again, “why anyone would want to walk on water—when they could dance on the earth.”
So my sister dances and the dead house burns, and I scrawl these few last words by the light of its burning. I know I should toss this story, too, on those flames. But I am still too much a storyteller—or at least a storykeeper—still too much my father’s daughter to burn these pages.
Now the wind rises and the baby wakes. Soon we three will cross the clearing and enter the forest for good.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jean Hegland is the author of The Life Within: Celebration of a Pregnancy. She lives with her husband and three children in northern California on fifty-five acres of second-growth forest. She is at work on her next novel.
This edition contains the complete text of the original hardcover edition.
NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.
INTO THE FOREST
A Bantam Book published in association with CALYX Books
PUBLISHING HISTORY
CALYX hardcover and trade paperback published in 1996
Bantam hardcover edition/October 1997
Bantam trade paperback edition/September 1998
The author is donating a portion of her royalties from Into the Forest to World Stewardship Institute (Santa Rosa, CA) for reforestation efforts.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1996 by Jean Hegland.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-33919.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.
eISBN: 978-0-307-57356-8
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, New York, New York.
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