La foresta ti ha

LITERATURE FOR ENVIRONMENT AWARD
OLONA 2012 - FINALIST

FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
CITY OF CUNEO 2013 - SELECTION

ITALIAN FIRST NOVELS SELECTION
FESTIVAL DU PREMIER ROMAN
DE CHAMBÉRY 2013

"This debut novel reveals a great talent
for storytelling and resonates with truth"
CARLO GRANDE (TuttoLibri - La Stampa)

"In a single book we have an intensely private memoir, descriptions of a unique, distant culture, an exposé of developing Africa, adventure and a mystery"
ARGO (Italian Literary Journal)

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LITERATURE FOR ENVIRONMENT AWARD
OLONA 2012 - FINALIST

FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
CITY OF CUNEO 2013 - SELECTION

"It holds you close, it protects you. Slithering over your feet, flying into you, scratching your skin. Swimming around you when you step into water. Wherever you are, you hear its voice. Its smell. Its breath. Even if you wanted to, you cannot hide, because it has eyes everywhere. Little by little it transforms you. It swallows you up and begins to absorb you - it digests you.
The forest.
In the end you are part of its body, like the antelopes and the streams. The plants and the palm grubs. You have become an extension of it. You belong to the forest."

Central Africa. Jenghi, the powerful, mysterious spirit of the Forest, is about to kill the young boys of a pygmy camp during an ancient initiation ritual. But for the first time ever, among the boys lying on the ground in a jungle clearing, their bodies painted and smeared with blood, there is a European, an anthropology student who arrived here a few months earlier. This is the opening scene of a personal story told by Luis Devin, containing accounts of the secret rituals he underwent with the Baka pygmies in order to be accepted as a member of their group and to allow him to share with them the secrets of the forest. But this rite of passage with its tests to overcome and its teachings, is also the underlying theme of a wider story which unfolds in a natural environment (the vast rain forest of Africa) and a cultural setting (the Pygmy camps), both of which until quite recently had remained relatively intact. Now, unfortunately, this world is rapidly disappearing. Forming a backdrop to the main narrative we find vivid descriptions of food gathering expeditions, hunting with crossbow and arrow, propitiatory songs, creation of musical instruments from leaves and water; but other themes dealt with include deforestation, conflict with the Bantu, witchcraft, alcoholism, prostitution, and the illegal trade in wildlife. Luis Devin’s account of his unique first person experiences is written in a direct, absorbing style that succeeds in blending strong narrative, anthropology and the poetry of the unknown language of the pygmies.