We Are All Ghosts in the Forest

In the east of Estonia, not too far from the Russian border, is a small village. When the world fell apart, and she could no longer earn a living as a photographer, Katerina went there to live there because the village had been her grandmother’s home. There was a house there she could have. And perhaps neighbours.

The villagers welcomed her cautiously. Katerina’s grandmother had been an honoured member of their community. But in the world that had vanished, young people moved around. They married outside their community. Katerina’s skin is brown, courtesy of an Indian parent. It marks her out as different. Fortunately, thanks in part to books left by her grandmother, and in part due to her intellectual curiosity, Katerina is good with herbs. She can make medicines, which are sorely needed. She can advise on keeping pests away from crops. And she can help get rid of ghosts.

There are ghosts, of course. They used to live in the internet. That, like so many things, is no longer what it was. But things linger: adverts, a stray character from a streaming drama, an audiobook. You don’t want them near your house. Well, most people don’t anyway. Katerina remembers the internet and used to live by it. The ghosts don’t scare her. She has a cat called Orlando. She feeds him copper filings because that helps him stay solid and real. Orlando, being a cat, accepts what is due to him.

Hmm, let’s see: a woman who is good with herbs, who looks different to the rest of the villagers, and has a ghost cat as a pet. There’s a word for that sort of person, isn’t there.

It is no accident that the two villagers who make Katerina most welcome are Elisabet, who is autistic, and Jaakob, who is gay but doesn’t let that be known to any but his most trusted friends.

What really disturbs the villagers, however, is Stefan. Katerina is away trading: exchanging medicines for ingredients she can’t get at home. In a busy marketplace a teenage boy approaches her. He is mute, but he gives her a note.

My dear Katya,
Take care of Stefan. I have no one else to ask, no one else I would want to, and I know that you will keep my son safe through what is to come.
Yours always,
Aleksander

Katerina has no idea who Aleksander is, has never heard of him before, but the boy needs help so she can’t turn him away.

This, then, is the set-up for We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson. It is a fabulous story: weirdly imaginative, lightly creepy, ultimately tear-worthy. Wilson is, I think, one of the brightest new talents that we have in the UK at the moment. She has now graduated to mainstream publication. All that is left is for the awards to start coming in. She already has a British Fantasy Award, for a short story in Strange Horizons. Those of you outside of the BFS circle should start taking note.

Title: We Are All Ghosts in the Forest
By: Lorraine Wilson
Publisher: Rebellion
Purchase links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Bookshop.org UK
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