The New Forest Dweller

by R.V. Huish

The New Forest Dweller

Follow the story of a young man who makes the painful decision to leave his family, and take over as The New Forest Dweller. Myths and Legends of the New Forest come to life through an enthralling eco friendly outlook on the Forest. The New Forest Dweller is the healer, guardian, and protector, who works tirelessly to look after the animals, plants, and trees of the forest. He is helped along by The Fritham Fairies, The Brockenhurst Pixies, The Ghostly Highwayman of Wilverley, The Forest Folk, and The Burley Witches (The Sisters of the Wreath). This is the first instalment of this series, which hopefully will not be the last.

229 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 4, 2024

About the author

Hello and thankyou for looking. I'm Ryan, author of The New Forest Dweller Book Series. I am a resident of the New Forest and have been for most of my life. I was raised in Christchurch Dorset, and have lived in Ashurst Bridge, Ashurst, and Lyndhurst, and have also had grandparents who lived in Burley and Brockenhurst whilst growing up. Walking and exploring the New Forest with my son and partner is one of best things to do on a free weekend (rain or shine). I also love spending time with family and friends, playing golf, poker, watching football, painting, reading, building a business, and of course, writing.

I started writing over 10 years ago, slowly working and researching for a book based on the beast of Gévaudan in France. Upon reaching around 30,000 words however, my laptop at the time crashed, and removed all traces of the story. This was highly frustrating, and decided to change to a subject closer to home, though I may revisit this in the future. At present, I am focused on releasing some more books in The New Forest Dweller Series (Books I & II & III released with book IV in the works). I expect to have around 5 books in this series, and I have found it has been an absolute joyous experience to write creatively, basing characters loosely on myths and legends of The New Forest. The New Forest really does have some interesting stories, from the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland (Alice Liddell who lived in / around Lyndhurst), The Bisterne Dragon (said to be buried beneath Boltons Bench in Lyndhurst), Forest Fairies (folklore stories), Witches and Witchery around Burley, and many more I am yet to introduce.

I do hope you enjoy my books, and please do remember when out and enjoying The New Forest, to make sure your activities aren't at the expense of the wildlife.

Happy Reading!!!

Reviews

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, very interesting to read about the New Forest Legends, some I knew about and some I didn’t. Living in the Forest means that I know so many of the places and it’s great to imagine the Forest Dweller there. I was a bit worried that he left his family, it seemed without much pain, I thought a baby would be so hard to leave. Even though he made sure they would be financially secure I felt saddened by his decision but glad to get to the end of the book with some explanation. I think the story was easy to read and wonderful pictures came into my mind, I shall be reading the next book for sure!

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange premise for a book..... still can't quite understand why he left his family to live in the forest and that it was OK with his wife.....! but I loved the magic elements and folk. particularly liked the constantly different food choices that he pulls from his cloak!

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Pleasant Short Read

A lovely little read. So gentle as you get settled in to The Forest with its new Warden. I wasn't’t sure where this was going and then I hit the cliff hanger and quite abruptly everything changed and I am tremendously interested to read the next book.