Lanny

Nestled an hour from London, a seemingly ordinary village hums with the everyday cadences of modern life: love, loss, work, and gossip. Yet, beneath this familiar veneer, an ancient, mythical presence stirs. Dead Papa Toothwort, a primordial, leafy entity long dormant, awakens to eavesdrop on the village's symphony of human voices. He listens intently, his senses drawn to a new family who have recently made the village their home, and particularly to their ethereal, imaginative son, Lanny. As Lanny navigates childhood within this peculiar landscape, his unique spirit begins to resonate with Toothwort, blurring the lines between reality and myth. Max Porter masterfully weaves a bewitching tapestry of domestic drama, folklore, and anarchic energy, creating a vibrant defense of creativity and the generative forces often challenged in our contemporary world. The novel explores themes of community, the wildness of nature, and the delicate balance between the mundane and the magical, solidifying Porter's reputation as a daring and sensitive literary voice.