Chłopiec z lasu

It sounds serious, but it begins modestly enough. Here’s Ala – and her dog Ace, with whom she is able to talk (she also talks to a fence, a teddy bear, a fox, an imaginary friend, and even Darkness) – on the way to visit her dad working in the forest, who comes across a shoe someone has lost. How did it get there? How does it feel without the other one? Who is the eponymous “boy from the forest”, to whom the lost item belongs? How can he be helped? Ala stubbornly searches for answers to those questions, and the writer portrays it using a narrative with the hallmarks of magical realism. The atmospheric story thus created presents matters familiar to children: family, school, a pet and a favourite toy, but also communication and its absence, silence and voices, animals and objects. And ultimately borders and barriers: the ones between countries and the ones between people. The text is complemented by Marta Kurczewska’s evocative illustrations which blend in perfectly with the novel’s ambience.