Barkskins : a novel
(Book)

"Barkskins opens in New France--Canada--in the late 18th century where Rene Sel is bound to a 'seigneur' for three years in exchange for land. He works as a woodcutter--barkskin--and suffers extraordinary hardship and violence, always oppressed by the forest he is charged with clearing. This epic novel goes on to follow the lives of Rene's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, as well as the descendants of his friends and foes, as they travel back to Europe, to China, to New England and elsewhere. Again and again they seize what they can of a seemingly endless natural resource until the modern-day characters must face the possibility of ecological collapse."--,from publisher's description.