By Julie O’Brien Deasy
Author Daniel Mason discussed the inspiration for his 2023 New York Times bestselling book, North Woods, at the New Canaan Library’s 18th Annual Literary Luncheon at New Canaan Country Club.
North Woods, Mason’s sixth book, is a work of historical fiction that tells the story of a single house in New England over the course of several centuries, from the early American colonies to the present day. The home’s inhabitants and visitors include a Puritan couple, twin sisters, a crime reporter, a landscape painter, and even a cougar.
In 2023, The New York Times named North Woods one of the best 5 fiction books of the year.
The book examines “looking at a place over time, and wondering what has gone there before”, noted Mason during the Literary Luncheon on Friday, November 7.
Mason, who lives in Northern California, shared that during the pandemic he and his family came out to New England to live for a year. While he was here he would take nature walks with his children. He began to notice apple trees, a species not native to the area, growing randomly in the woods and fields, which made him wonder about their origins. “Somebody planted them, and there was probably a house there too at some point,” Mason said, describing his initial inspiration for North Woods.
“Every house I’ve lived in has been younger than me,” noted Mason, and that spending the year in New England made him reflect on the passage of time, and the layering of different people’s experiences over time.
Much of the story follows not only the history of the people who live in the house but also their interactions with the apple trees planted around the house. The apple trees become a symbol of continuity, history, and the connection between human lives and nature.
“The book is the story of a house on the same spot, and how architecture can layer itself, how history can layer itself, and how nature can layer itself.”
Mason was born and raised in Northern California. He received his BA in Biology at Harvard and earned his MD at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition to writing fiction, he is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Stamford University.
Mason described how he integrates his science and medicine background with his love for the humanities. He explained that while “Stamford is very hooked into modernity” and focused on the latest technological and scientific breakthroughs, he believes that reading and literature are just as central to his understanding of psychiatry.
He described telling his students, “We’re not going to be reading the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in this class. Instead, we will be reading Nabokov and Philip K. Dick. It’s not a criticism of medicine; rather, we need this other perspective to truly understand psychiatric conditions.”
Mason has used his medical knowledge in several of his books, including North Woods, where one character has schizophrenia, and another suffers mental decline after a traumatic event.
His science background also helped him develop a character, a graduate student in biology, who could articulate all the themes of the book, including how ecosystems, species, ecosystems, and even human succession plays out over hundreds of years.
Such discussions are a hallmark of the annual Literary Luncheon, which since 2008, has brought the community together to celebrate a renowned author and strengthen the Library’s mission: to be an essential place for lifelong learning, culture and connection.
The Luncheon is also the Library’s single biggest fundraiser, helping support library activities for the entire upcoming year.
For this year’s program, New Canaan Country Club was transformed into a New England apple orchard for the afternoon. A collection of gourds and pumpkins welcomed guests outside the front door, wildflowers and apple centerpieces decorated the table settings, and eucalyptus and other greenery hung from the ceiling. A large fall scene featured apple trees in the process of being picked and made into cider.
The event also honored Eileen Thomas, Vice Chair of the Library Board. Thomas is a “life-long library lover” who has dedicated countless hours of time to the Library, including as a Co-Chair of the capital campaign that raised $40 million to build the new New Canaan Library.
Many volunteers and organizations came together to make the Literary Luncheon possible. The planning committee was headed by Allison Zinczenko, New Canaan Library Events & Marketing Consultant, and Michael Canoro, Luncheon Design Lead. Sponsors included M&T Bank, Manfredi Jewels, Yozo Studio, William Raveis, Bankwell, Lampert Toohey & Rucci LLC, Connecticut Breast Imaging, Howard & Gay Insurance, Springboard Travel, and Moffly Media. In addition, Elm Street Books was on site selling signed copies of Daniel Mason’s books, some of which are still available for purchase at their store.
Towards the end of his remarks, Mason described how he wrote North Woods over the course of a year, drafting one chapter per month to match the book’s twelve sections. He would go outside and observe the world around him to confirm the accuracy of each detail, using his own firsthand experience and his own photos for many of the book’s nature descriptions. So it’s fitting when one of his characters reflects, “History haunts him who does not honor it” – a reminder of the thoughtful attention given that afternoon to both place and past.
