The Endless Forest

Sara Donati's The Endless Forest is the sixth and final book in her Wilderness series and it is just as entertaining and exciting as the first one. This is one of my favourite series of books and since it has finally come to an end, I really tried to savour this last book. This has been a journey of epic proportions. Over the books and over the years I have watched all my favourite characters develop and grow into someone wonderful and unique. Sometimes I really feel like I know these people!

The blurb perfectly sums up this book. The entire Bonner Clan (and they are a huge clan!) have come home to Hidden Wolf; each bringing their own problems and hopes for the future. The previous novel ended in 1815, so this story has jumped forward 9 show more years. I'm often nervous when books jump into the future. I'm afraid everything will have changed too much. This is not the case; everything was different but also exactly the same. I felt like I was meeting up with old friends; it was easy and comforting. There were plenty of new characters, including Birdie, Nathaniel and Elizabeth's unexpected child.

I was swept away by the romance between Daniel and Martha. They way Daniel teased poor, shy Martha had me laughing out loud. Daniel is such a strong and interesting character. Having severely injured his arm in the war of 1812, Daniel spiralled into a depression and became isolated from his family. But here we see him as a man who has come to terms with his injury and the fact that he cannot shoot a rifle. He has come out of his shell and is stronger in so many other ways. Martha, and Callie too, are not on the same level as Hannah, Jennet and Elizabeth. They aren't quite as strong and independent as the other women in the Bonner family. But I loved them anyway.

Overall I thought it was a spectacular and beautiful finish to a wonderful series. BUT I did have one problem; the epilogue. It is one of the most unique epilogues I have come across in a while but I wasn't ready for what it said. *Mild Spoiler coming up* I of course know, that all people eventually die of old age or illness. The story ended with me feeling happy and satisfied until I read the Epilogue, which spans across about 20 years. Of course some of the older characters have died. I feel it was unnecessary to include this information. It ruined the ending of the book for me. I was left feeling bereft. If, like me, you like characters to live on in your imagination, then skip the epilogue.

Despite this, I adore the series and the final book lived up to my expectations. So 5 out of 5 stars; no question about it. show less

Ever since reading Into The Wilderness, this series has firmly made a place for itself on my all time favourites list - as has Donati (aka Rosina Lippi) as an author. The Endless Forest is the sixth and final book in the Wilderness series and I have never anticipated the release of a book so eagerly.

Donati doesn't disappoint.

There is humour and love, family and friends, and tears at the end as all the main charcters have their stories told. Donati skillfully inserts small comments into the narrative that let the reader know exactly what has happened to some of the more minor characters, while the epilogue brings a nice sense closure and answers lingering questions. While some of the events were expected, Donati still manages to include show more a few twists.

This is a satisfying end to a wonderful series. I hope Donati makes her return to writing sometime very soon. show less

The Endless Forest
by Sara Donati
Published by Delacorte Press
Copyright 2010

I have been an unabashed fan of Elizabeth Middleton Bonner’s and Nathaniel Bonner’s family saga since first opening Into the Wilderness. The Endless Forest is Sara Donati’s (aka Rosina Lippi) farewell to the indomitable Bonner family. Yes, I wept. Difficult not to weep over the passing of old friends, even if they are fictional.

The book starts with a monologue directed toward the reader from Curiosity Freeman, a manumitted slave and resident of Paradise, the New York village which is home to the Bonners. Curiosity is a family friend and healer/midwife under whose wing most of the Bonners flourish along with Curiosity’s own family and the rest of the show more village. This monologue of Curiosity’s and a story she later tells about Elizabeth’s mother and the early days of the village itself frames the continuing stories of those with whom we have become close to through Donati’s/Lippi’s four other books.

I refer to the indomitability of the Bonner family - they are, in fact, almost too perfect throughout the books. If it weren’t that they were all so terribly stubborn (Something I share in abundance! *cough*) I think I’d have tossed the first book against the wall and never made it to the last. And Curiosity- well, her homey wisdom can be downright annoying at times. It was, therefore, a relief to find in her revelatory storytelling about Elizabeth’s mother and true father that she was less than perfect. Well, a little less. Curiosity is whole-heartedly forgiven, while Jemima, the family’s nemesis, was certainly not forgiven despite the fact that Jemima had little chance of becoming more than what she became. Curiosity definitely had a choice of what to do and chose a judgment that became a burden for her and defined the lives of Elizabeth and many others. Curiosity was the manumitted slave, but Jemima never managed to free herself from her blighted past.

Endless Forest was a satisfying ending to this much-loved series. The epilogue of newspaper articles, including obituaries, about the extended Bonner family and other Paradise residents was a treat that we don’t often get with a series such as this. Nicely done.
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Book #6 in the Into the Wilderness Series and the end of the story (?). This book in the series caught the reader up on all the family members and other known characters from the 1st couple books. We got to know Daniel, Lilly, Martha Quick & Caley a lot better. Many secrets came out and it was an EXCELLENT chapter in the lives of the Bonner Family and Paradise. It was heartwarming, edge of seat adventure and heart wrenching. Have tissues ready for the final epilogue. Although you want to know the rest of the story and how everyone does, it doesn't change how sad it is to mourn the loss of those you come to love, even it is in the form of a literary work of art.

I was very sorry to finish this final book in the Into the Wilderness series. The author is an accomplished storyteller and I found the series compelling. These books have sustained me through a difficult and tumultuous past few months and I will be hard-pressed to find replacements that will capture my attention as they have.

I really loved this whole series but I have to admit this last book was my least favourite. I thought it did a great job of wrapping up the storyline and I loved having all the characters back together again for the end but it was lacking the action of all the previous books. Still well worth reading. I would highly recommend this series and I will miss these characters.

This is the sixth and final book in Sara Donati's Wilderness series, historical fiction set in upstate New York spanning the period from late 1792 to mid 1824 - the latter year being when this book takes place. The setting moves back to the location of the first book, the mythical town of Paradise, in the Adirondacks near Lake George and Saratoga, both of which I have visited.

The romance focus in this book is on Elizabeth & Nathaniel Bonner's son Daniel, who lost the use of his left arm in the War of 1812, and Martha Kirby, recently returned from living in Manhattan a number of years.  I decided to classify this book as a historical romance rather than historical fiction - because sex is a big part of this book, and the historical show more setting is not as relevant to the plot.

What does drive the plot is the return of the notorious troublemaker, Jemima Southern Kuick Wilde Focht, Martha's mother, and the stepmother of Martha's former best friend, orchard owner Callie Wilde.  The fear that Jemima might lay claim to Martha's inheritance from her father Liam Kirby, or to Callie's orchard, drives Daniel and Martha to go to nearby Johnstown to quickly marry, followed by Callie and Daniel's cousin Ethan Middleton.  The marriage of the latter two is for friendship and protection, as Callie fears she will pass on her mother's mental decline to any children.

Jemima left Paradise eleven years before pregnant by Callie's father, and claims that the little boy she brings with her, named Nicholas Wilde for his father, is both Martha's and Callie's half-brother.  Callie, desperate for the family she's lost and knows she will not have otherwise, accepts him as such, but Martha and the rest of Paradise adults are more cautious - especially since Jemima goes away and leaves Nicholas behind along with a couple black servants, who play a part in the story.

I never quite understood how Jemima could possibly claim the orchard for her son.  In Fire Along the Sky, the fourth book in the series, Jemima sells the orchard unbeknownst to Callie's father (which leads to his death), and leaves town with the money.  Callie later buys the orchard back, so it seems to me that she should be the owner outright, and not have to fear any claims from her half-brother or former stepmother.

Otherwise, the book brings us up-to-date on the lives of other members of the extended Bonner family and their friends.  Both oldest son Luke Bonner's wife Jennet, and Daniel's twin Lily are pregnant - Lily with her first after many miscarriages.  Gabe Bonner marries his childhood playmate Annie, a Mohawk, in secret at the beginning of the book.  And ten-year-old Curiosity "Birdie" Bonner, the youngest child, tells much of the story from her viewpoint.

Jemima comes back again at the end of the book, and that plot line gets resolved.  Donati ends the book (and series) with an epilogue in the form of newspaper articles and advertisements - including obituaries - that span the next twenty years.  Some deaths are to be expected, given the ages of the characters, some are surprises.  In a comment to a reviewer upset with this epilogue, Donati said,

"I certainly wasn't bored with the series, but I did know that Bantam [the publisher] wouldn't give me a contract for another book in the series. That made the novel especially difficult to write, both technically and emotionally. I felt obligated to bring everyone to a fairly stable place."

I was fine with the epilogue.  Many of the characters that survive past 1843 - and their descendants - show up in the first book in Donati's next series, set  in New York City forty years later, in 1883, The Gilded Hour.

Kate Reading's narration of the audiobook was superb as usual.

© Amanda Pape - 2017

[The e-audiobook, and a print copy for reference, were borrowed from and returned to public libraries.] show less