Our Lady Of The Forest

Visions in the Mist

On a fog-draped November morning deep in the cedar-shrouded woods of North Fork, sixteen-year-old Ann Holmes experiences something no one could have predicted: a crystal-clear apparition of the Virgin Mary hovering between two ancient pines. An itinerant mushroom picker and chronic drug user with a history of abuse, Ann has lived on the fringes of society—her only home a battered tent beside the logging road. Yet when word of her vision spreads like wildfire, the isolated wilderness becomes the epicenter of a modern-day pilgrimage, as desperate seekers and hardened skeptics alike converge amid drifting spores and fallen needles to witness a miracle that may defy both science and faith.

Pilgrims of the Pines

As the makeshift campground swells into a sea of lanterns and rosaries, unlikely alliances form. Carolyn Greer, a pragmatic fellow mushroomer lacking Ann’s religious fervor, steps into the role of confidante and reluctant press agent. Elsewhere, embittered logger Tom Cross carries his paralyzed son, John, into the encampment, searching for redemption and healing beyond the shattered world he once knew. And Father Donald Collins, newly ordained and wrestling with his own doubts—and an unsettling attraction to Ann—finds his pastoral calling tested by the Church’s demand for empirical truth and an ever-growing throng demanding miracles.

Trials of Belief

Through clandestine interviews conducted by Vatican emissaries and whispered consultations beneath tarpaulin canopies, the line between divine revelation and psychological delusion blurs. Ann’s fragile body buckles under relentless scrutiny—her asthma, fever, and the weight of expectation threatening to extinguish both her voice and her fragile hope. Yet each whispered Hail Mary and shared confession binds the community closer, revealing that the true miracle may lie not in specters of the sacred, but in the human capacity for compassion, forgiveness, and collective yearning.

Author’s Description

David Guterson is the celebrated author of Snow Falling on Cedars and numerous acclaimed novels and essays exploring the intersections of memory, place, and belief. A former journalist and essayist, he lives in the Pacific Northwest and continues to illuminate the complexities of faith, justice, and the human heart.