North Woods by Daniel Mason Summary, Characters and Themes

“North Woods,” the fourth novel by Daniel Mason, is a sweeping historical epic that spans several centuries, set against the backdrop of a single location in western Massachusetts. This novel intricately weaves together the lives of diverse characters who inhabit a rustic cabin and later a yellow house on the same land. 

Through the lens of different eras, Mason explores themes of history, memory, and the enduring connection between people and the land. As ghosts from the past intertwine with the present, “North Woods” becomes a rich mix of human experience, touching on love, loss, and the passage of time.

Summary

The novel begins in the mid-1600s, where two young lovers, fleeing the strict confines of the Puritan colony in Massachusetts Bay, venture into the untamed wilderness of western Massachusetts. 

They find solace in the remote north woods, where they construct a modest cabin and start a new life, far from the prying eyes of their former community. Decades later, the tranquility of their isolated haven is shattered when a Puritan village falls victim to an attack by Indigenous warriors.

Among the captives is a young wife and her infant son, who are eventually abandoned at the cabin of an elderly Englishwoman. 

This woman, now alone after the death of her lover, cares for the young mother and her child, creating a bond between them.

However, this peace is threatened when three English soldiers arrive with a sinister plan to attack a nearby Indigenous settlement.

The old woman, repulsed by their cruelty, poisons their food with a deadly mushroom known as Nightmaid. As the men realize their fate, a violent confrontation ensues, resulting in the death of the elderly woman. 

The young mother, in a desperate bid to save her son, kills the remaining soldiers with an axe. She records the tragic events in the margins of the elderly woman’s Bible before fleeing the cabin.

In the years that follow, an apple tree grows from the remains of one of the soldiers, its fruit later discovered by Charles Osgood, who arrives in the mid-1700s.

Charles, searching for the perfect site to establish an orchard, is captivated by the unique apples from the tree and begins cultivating a new varietal, the Osgood Wonder.

He builds a yellow house adjacent to the original cabin, which becomes the home for his twin daughters, Mary and Alice. 

When Charles leaves to fight in the Revolutionary War, the sisters maintain the orchard, but their relationship becomes strained.

Mary, unwilling to let Alice marry and leave her, eventually kills her sister in a fit of rage and buries her beneath the floorboards.

The yellow house changes hands over the centuries. In the mid-1800s, Esther, a runaway slave, finds temporary refuge in the house as she flees toward Canada. 

A bounty hunter tracks her down but meets a grisly end at the hands of Mary’s vengeful ghost. Esther escapes, taking with her the Bible that contains the haunting Nightmaids Letter.

In the late 19th century, a landscape artist named William Henry Teale moves into the house and becomes embroiled in a secret love affair with a writer, Erasmus Nash. 

The ghosts of their doomed romance linger in the house, even as it is later transformed into a hunting lodge by a button manufacturer named Farnsworth.

Farnsworth’s descendants also encounter the house’s restless spirits, including his grandson Robert, who attempts to document their presence on film.

In modern times, a botanist named Nora crashes her car near the site and dies, joining the spectral inhabitants of the land.

She witnesses the eventual destruction of the yellow house but views it as part of the natural cycle, embracing the inevitability of change and the promise of renewal.

Characters

The Anonymous Lovers

The novel begins with a pair of young lovers fleeing the oppressive Puritan society of Massachusetts Bay in the mid-1600s. Their story is one of defiance and survival, as they seek freedom in the wilds of western Massachusetts.

The young woman is a symbol of resilience, adapting to the harsh environment and forming a bond with the Indigenous people who later come to trust her. Her life in the woods, marked by both loss and endurance, highlights the theme of Paradise Lost as she finds solace and purpose in the wilderness, despite the tragic death of her lover.

The woman’s journey from a hopeful escapee to a wise elder who helps a fellow captive illustrates the powerful connection between individuals and the land they inhabit.

The Captive Girl

The young wife taken captive by Indigenous warriors represents the vulnerability and strength of individuals caught in the conflicts of early American history. Her initial despair transforms into a fierce determination to protect her son and herself, even at the cost of violence.

Her relationship with the elderly woman, who nurses her back to health, adds complexity to her character, as she learns to navigate the conflicting loyalties between the English and Indigenous peoples.

Her refusal of the apple offered by the scout, and her subsequent actions to save herself and her son, highlight her moral resolve and the survival instincts honed by her harsh experiences.

Her story, recorded in the margins of the Bible, serves as a testament to the enduring power of memory and history in shaping future generations.

Charles Osgood and His Daughters

Charles Osgood, arriving in the mid-1700s, symbolizes the spirit of American enterprise and the connection to the land through agriculture. His creation of the Osgood Wonder apple varietal and the establishment of an orchard mark a new chapter in the history of the north woods, blending the natural environment with human cultivation.

His daughters, Mary and Alice, represent two contrasting approaches to life: Mary’s desire for control and stability versus Alice’s yearning for freedom and connection. Their tragic relationship, culminating in Mary’s murderous rage and subsequent guilt, underscores the destructive potential of isolation and the deep-seated fear of abandonment.

Their story, culminating in their entombment beneath the pantry floor, adds a Gothic element to the novel, intertwining the history of the land with the personal tragedies of its inhabitants.

Esther

Esther’s story, set in the mid-1800s, introduces the theme of slavery and the quest for freedom. As an escaped enslaved girl seeking refuge in the yellow house, she embodies the courage and determination of those fleeing oppression.

Her encounter with the ghost of Mary, who saves her from the bounty hunter Phelan, adds a supernatural dimension to her narrative, suggesting that the spirits of the past can influence the fate of the living.

Esther’s survival and her continuation of the journey northward symbolize the unyielding pursuit of liberty, even in the face of relentless pursuit and danger. Her possession of the “Nightmaids” Letter connects her to the earlier histories of the north woods, emphasizing the continuity of struggle and survival across generations.

William Henry Teale and Erasmus Nash

William Henry Teale, a successful landscape artist, brings a new era of cultural refinement to the yellow house in the late 19th century. His correspondence and eventual romance with the writer Erasmus Nash highlight the themes of secrecy, forbidden love, and the personal sacrifices made to maintain social propriety.

Teale’s internal conflict between his love for Nash and his obligations to his family illustrates the tension between individual desires and societal expectations. The end of their affair and Teale’s subsequent isolation in the house reflect the emotional toll of such sacrifices.

The haunting presence of Teale and Nash’s ghosts in the house during Farnsworth’s time suggests that unresolved emotions and hidden histories can leave lasting imprints on a place, influencing the lives of future occupants.

Farnsworth and Anastasia

Farnsworth, a button manufacturer and avid sportsman, represents the 20th-century shift towards commercialization and leisure. His expansion of the yellow house into Catamount Lodge and his attempt to erase the house’s troubled history through hunting and entertainment reflect the modern desire to dominate and reshape the natural environment.

However, the persistent ghostly presence of Teale, Nash, and Osgood disrupts Farnsworth’s plans, indicating that the past cannot be easily erased. The inclusion of Anastasia, a charlatan psychic who unexpectedly channels the spirits of the house, adds a layer of irony to the narrative.

Her surprise at genuinely contacting the spirits suggests that the history of the north woods is more powerful and mysterious than any attempt to exploit or commercialize it.

Robert and Helen

Robert, diagnosed with schizophrenia, represents the sensitive and perceptive individual who sees beyond the visible world into the hidden truths of the north woods. His ability to communicate with the ghosts of the house reflects the novel’s theme of the land as a silent witness to history.

Robert’s obsession with capturing the spirits on film, and his sister Helen’s eventual inheritance of the film reels, underscore the elusive nature of truth and memory. The emptiness of the reels, revealing nothing but the woods, suggests that some aspects of history and experience are beyond capture or comprehension.

Robert’s tragic life, marked by his inability to fully communicate his visions to others, contrasts with Helen’s more practical, grounded approach to life, highlighting the tension between visionary insight and everyday reality.

Morris Lakeman

Morris Lakeman, the amateur historian who nearly unravels the full history of the north woods, represents the quest for knowledge and the dangers of obsession. His death just as he is about to connect all the dots symbolizes the often incomplete and fragmented nature of historical understanding.

Lakeman’s posthumous relationship with Alice Osgood’s ghost adds a darkly humorous twist to his story, suggesting that his pursuit of the past has trapped him in it, unable to move forward. His character embodies the novel’s theme of the narrative puzzle, where history is a complex, interwoven tapestry that resists simple explanations or conclusions.

Nora

Nora, the botanist who dies in the present day and encounters the ghost of Charles Osgood, represents the continuity of life and death in the north woods. Her decision to stay in the yellow house after her death, observing the changes to the land over centuries, reflects a philosophical acceptance of change and impermanence.

Unlike previous characters who struggled against the forces of history or sought to preserve the past, Nora embraces the natural cycles of growth, decay, and renewal. Her character brings the novel full circle, emphasizing that while the details of human history may fade, the land endures, constantly evolving and bearing witness to new stories yet to be told.

Themes

Paradise Lost

The theme of “Paradise Lost” resonates throughout North Woods, beginning with the young lovers who flee the oppressive Puritan society in search of freedom and an ideal life in the wilderness. Their dream of building a paradise in the untouched north woods is an echo of humanity’s age-old quest for an Edenic existence, free from societal constraints and close to nature.

However, as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that this paradise is elusive. The lovers’ initial vision of a harmonious life in the wilderness is marred by death, violence, and betrayal.

The transformation of the wilderness—from a place of refuge to a site of murder, ghostly hauntings, and dark secrets—underscores the novel’s exploration of the fall from an imagined state of innocence and purity. Each generation of characters encounters the harsh reality that their paradise is transient and fraught with loss, reflecting the broader human experience of striving for but never quite attaining a perfect state of existence.

The Narrative Puzzle

The narrative structure of North Woods is itself a puzzle, with stories spanning several centuries and various characters whose lives are interconnected by the land they inhabit. This theme of “The Narrative Puzzle” invites readers to piece together the fragmented history of the north woods and its inhabitants.

The novel is a mosaic of different perspectives, timelines, and storytelling techniques, such as third-person narration, letters, and memoranda. This fragmented storytelling mirrors the way history is often reconstructed from incomplete records, memories, and artifacts.

As the reader navigates through the different eras and characters, the novel emphasizes the complexity and multiplicity of histories, suggesting that understanding the past is an ongoing process of discovery and interpretation. The ultimate puzzle is the land itself, which holds the memories and stories of all who have lived there, waiting to be uncovered by those who come after.

The Land as Silent Witness

The land in North Woods serves as a constant, silent witness to the events that unfold over the centuries. This theme is central to the novel, as the physical setting—the north woods—remains a steady presence amidst the changing human lives it hosts.

The land absorbs the stories, tragedies, and triumphs of its inhabitants, bearing witness to the cycles of life and death, construction and destruction. The apple tree, grown from the seed in the scout’s stomach, becomes a symbol of the land’s role in preserving and perpetuating the past.

Similarly, the yellow house, which evolves from a simple cabin into a complex structure before being destroyed by fire, represents the ways in which human endeavors are imprinted on the landscape, even as they are ultimately transient.

The land’s ability to silently observe and endure through the centuries highlights the idea that nature persists beyond the ephemeral nature of human existence. In the novel’s final pages, Nora’s acceptance of change and recognition of the land’s enduring presence underscores the theme that while human lives are fleeting, the land remains a repository of all that has come before, silently carrying forward the legacy of those who once called it home.

The Intersection of the Supernatural and the Real

North Woods blurs the line between the supernatural and the real, intertwining ghostly presences with the tangible world. The novel portrays the house and the surrounding woods as being haunted by the spirits of former inhabitants, such as Mary, Alice, Teale, and Nash, whose unresolved stories continue to influence the living.

These ghosts are not mere figments of imagination; they interact with the living characters, affecting their decisions and experiences. This intersection of the supernatural and the real underscores the theme that the past is never truly gone; it lingers and shapes the present in both seen and unseen ways.

The presence of ghosts serves as a metaphor for the lingering impact of history, trauma, and unresolved emotions on subsequent generations. The novel suggests that the past is a living entity, coexisting with the present and continually influencing the future.

The Relentlessness of Time and Change

Throughout North Woods, the theme of time and change is omnipresent. The novel spans several centuries, capturing the inevitable march of time and its effects on the land and its inhabitants.

Characters come and go, generations rise and fall, but time moves inexorably forward, bringing with it both destruction and renewal. The yellow house, once a symbol of human ambition and permanence, is eventually consumed by fire, symbolizing the impermanence of all human endeavors.

Nora’s philosophical acceptance of this cycle of change at the novel’s conclusion emphasizes the idea that change is a fundamental and inescapable aspect of existence. The novel portrays time as both a destructive and creative force, one that erases the old but also lays the groundwork for new beginnings.

This theme encourages a perspective that embraces change and the passage of time as natural and necessary, rather than something to be mourned or resisted.