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About The Book

When the internet collapsed, it took the world with it, leaving its digital ghosts behind – and they are hungry. Former photojournalist Katerina fled the overrun cities to the relative safety of her grandmother’s village on the edge of a forest, where she lives a solitary life of herbal medicine and beekeeping.

When a wordless boy finds her in the marketplace with nothing but her name in his pocket, her curiosity won’t allow her to turn him away. But haunting his arrival are rumours of harvest failure and a rampant digital disease stirring up the ghosts, and the mood in the village starts to sour.

Accused of witchcraft, Katerina and Stefan escape into the forest, searching for his missing father and the truth behind the disease. If there is a cure, Katerina alone might find it, but first she must find the courage to trust others – because the ghosts that follow her aren’t just digital.

About The Author

A conservation scientist and third culture Scot, Lorraine lives by the sea writing stories influenced by folklore and the wilderness. She has a PhD from the University of St. Andrews but left academia and turned to writing due to disabling illness. Her debut novel, the dystopian thriller This Is Our Undoing, was a multi-award finalist. The follow up, a dark folkloric mystery The Way The Light Bends, was longlisted for the BSFA Best Novel award; her third book, Mother Sea is an exploration of motherhood, climate change and belonging, and was called ‘complex, rich and beautifully crafted’ by Claire North, author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Lorraine has been stalked by wolves and befriended pythons, she also runs the Rewriting The Margins mentorship scheme for marginalised writers.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Solaris (November 7, 2024)
  • Length: 400 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781837861446

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Raves and Reviews

"Complex, rich and beautifully crafted" – Claire North on Mother Sea

"Lyrical, moving, and at times haunting… This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time. Just brilliant!" – Awais Khan on Mother Sea

"We Are All Ghosts In The Forest is a poignant and lyrical portrayal of intimate frailties and quiet strength. In killing the Internet, Wilson makes us contemplate the majesty of the natural world -- both its beauties and its horrors." —Nicholas Binge, author of Ascension

"An intricately-woven tale that blends fairy stories, contemporary anxieties about climate change and the influence of technology on our human selves, with a story that is, at its core, a tale of community and connection." —Angie Spoto, author of The Grief Nurse

A testament to the power of an open mind and an open heart, Wilson’s apocalypse is both frightening and reassuring and there is no better guide for it than Katya.” —Joma West, author of Face

“A beautiful, lyrical tale of fear and alienation, love and acceptance.” —Fiona Erskine, author of the Jacqueline Silver Adventures

“Lorraine Wilson’s We Are All Ghosts in the Forest is an exquisite novel, a tale in which the past casts its long shadow upon the future in a moving portrayal of humanity’s quest for meaning and belonging in the face of the unknown. Its vivid imaginings are a mirror to our present-day concerns: intricately woven, it draws you deep into a lush, vibrant world that blends the digital apocalypse with the timelessness of myths and fairy stories. Haunting, heartwarming, and brimming with hope, its echoes will stay with you long after you turn the last page!” -- Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated author of The Ten Percent Thief

“A poetic, genre-defying 'grim lullaby' which pits noise against silence, and urban chaos against dark, fairytale forests. In this futuristic fable, Wilson births a new breed of ghosts which have the potential to haunt us all, and shows us that the path to redemption lies in togetherness, acceptance, and love.” -- Caroline Hardaker, author of Mothtown

“An ethereal and quietly unsettling tale of magical realism for the twenty-first century. Eloquent and highly imaginative, yet also deeply prescient, this is an example of folkloric world building at its best.” – Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Water Shall refuse Them

We Are All Ghosts in the Forest is a hauntingly beautiful blend of genres. It's a tale of loneliness and community, folklore rituals, and technology, and a unique journey into the woods set in a future that feels both on the verge of happening and yet a world away. Raine Wilson is a bold talent in the speculative field.” -- L.R. Lam, author of Dragonfall

Haunting and atmospheric, with a really excellent ghost cat.” -- Naomi Kritzer, Hugo Award-winning author of “The Year Without Sunshine”

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