Last year the book went on sale The forest of the four winds, a crime and mystery novel that in a short time got the second edition. You may have seen it in bookstores and it caught your eye.
Set in Cantabria, this book is one of the ones that is giving more to talk about, but what is The Forest of the Four Winds about? Who wrote it? Why do you have to read it? We will tell you.
Who wrote The Forest of the Four Winds
Source: María Oruña
The forest of the four winds it would not be a book if the author María Oruña had not had the idea. However, like many other novels that deal with a certain part of history, it required several years of documentation for everything to be tied and well tied. In fact, at the end of the book the writer herself has told what parts are real (of the story or legend) and which part is fiction, so that we get an idea of the great research she has carried out.
But who is María Oruña?
María Oruña was born in 1976 in Vigo. She is a Galician writer and this book, The Forest of the Four Winds is by no means her first book. The great success came to this author with her Puerto Escondido trilogy, three books that have been published by the Destino publishing house and that marked the debut in the crime novel, with overwhelming success because it was soon translated into Catalan, German and Spanish. French.
The Forest of the Four Winds is the author's latest novel, which she released in 2020, in full confinement, but that did not prevent her from succeeding.
Now, is she just a writer? Well, the truth is that no. Really Her training is in law, since she is a lawyer. But that didn't make her fight to be a writer and also a columnist. For 10 years she was working as both a labor and commercial lawyer, and in 2013 was when she launched her first self-published novel, La mano del arquero, which talked about workplace harassment and abuse of authority. According to the author, the novel was based on cases that she herself had known through her work.
What is The Forest of the Four Winds about
Source: María Oruña
You should know about The Forest of the Four Winds which is a novel that takes place in two timelines. On the one hand, the past, where you have Dr. Vallejo and Marina, their day-to-day life in the XNUMXth century and all that that implied, both for a man and a woman.
On the other hand, you have the present, with Jon Bécquer, a kind of researcher who is hunting for the veracity, or not, of a legend.
The story intersects between the two lines, since all the characters are closely related to each other. It can be said that, although the point of connection is a murder that connects the nineteenth century with the current one of Jon Bécquer, as the novel progresses you see how the characters are much more related to the main mystery: the legend of the nine rings.
According to this legend, there were nine rings of nine bishops that had magical powers, capable of healing. But we will not reveal more to you so as not to gut anything from the book.
We leave you there synopsis:
At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, Dr. Vallejo traveled from Valladolid to Galicia together with his daughter Marina to serve as a doctor in a powerful monastery in Ourense. There they will discover some very particular customs and they will experience the fall of the Church. Marina, interested in medicine and botany but without permission to study, will fight against the conventions that her time imposes on knowledge and love and will be immersed in an adventure that will keep a secret for more than a thousand years.
In our day, Jon Bécquer, an unusual anthropologist who works locating lost historical pieces, investigates a legend. As soon as they begin their investigations, in the garden of the old monastery the corpse of a man dressed in a Benedictine habit of the XIX appears. This fact will make Bécquer go deep into the forests of Galicia looking for answers and descending the surprising steps of time.
Main characters
In The Forest of the Four Winds we are going to meet many characters but, there are three of them, who stand out for having the singing voice, or because the author focuses on them. These are:
- doctor vallejo. It is related to the (also main) character of Marina, since it is this is his daughter. His timeline belongs to the past, since he will tell you about his history at the beginning of the XNUMXth century when he settled in Galicia with his daughter to work as a doctor in the monastery of Ourense.
- Marina. She is perhaps the true main character of the novel. He arrived at the monastery of Ourense in 1830 and began to be interested in medicine (by his father) and botany (by the monks and his own father). Thus, it deviates from what is "normal" for a woman at that time, and ahead of this. Her condition as a woman means that she has to fight against these imposed limitations.
- Jon Becquer. It is a character based on another that really existed. In the book he is an art detective who is behind the legend of the nine rings. Some describe him as an Indiana Jones but he does not tend to like him due to his personality.
Is it a unique book or a saga?
Many times, reading a new writer gives us a bit of fear, especially due to the current fashion of releasing bilogies, trilogies and sagas made up of many books, where the story does not end.
If we also take into account that before this, María Oruña released a trilogy, it is normal that you have the doubt whether the book is unique or part of a saga.
And it is the author herself who has made it clear: a self-concluding story. That is, it begins and ends in the same book; without more. That makes all the research and plot condensed into a single book that can easily be read in a couple of days (as long as it hooks you, of course).
Why You Should Give The Forest of the Four Winds a Chance
Source: María Oruña
You already know a little more about The Forest of the Four Winds, but maybe you don't want to give it a try yet, or you don't know if you really should read it or not. There are several reasons to do it:
- It is a unique, self-concluding book. If you haven't read the author before, getting into a trilogy can be too much. But you can read a book with a beginning and an end to find out if you like his pen or not.
- It's about a part of the history of Spain. Many times we know more about the history of other countries than ours. And that's really sad. So if you want to know how people lived in that area of Spain in the XNUMXth century and also learn about alchemy, botany, medicine ... you can give it a try.
- La woman has a leading role in the novel. And we are talking about the nineteenth century, but we will see how the woman here vindicates herself in a very striking way.
Have you read The Forest of the Four Winds? What do you think about him?