Country People by Daniel Mason review – a joyful follow-up to North Woods

This fantastical journey through family, folktales and a world beneath our feet is witty, uplifting and gorgeously writtenDaniel Mason’s latest novel sees him return to the verdant New England landscape that so captivated readers of 2023’s acclaimed North Woods. This time, though, he hops the border from Massachusetts into Vermont – and effects a deeper shift in the process. Where North Woods was a foray into history, telling the tale of a house and its inhabitants over three centuries, in Country People Mason turns his attention to literature and mines the rich seams of text, from myths to Milton to Shakespeare to Tolstoy and all points in between, that make up his novel’s foundations. This is, at its core, a story about stories; a tale about the tales we tell each other, and our children, and ourselves.It’s also a far simpler thing: the linear account of a year in the life of a contemporary family. On the surface, this might look like a step back from the scope and ambition