Title: To the Bright Edge of the World
Author: Eowyn Ivey
Genre: Historical Fiction
About the book…
Setting out to map the territory of the Wolverine River, in 1885, Colonel Allen Forrester and his small group prepare to go on an expedition that they don’t know if they’ll survive. Sophie Forrester, wife of the Colonel, must stay behind at the Vancouver Barracks to await the birth of their child alone.
This is the story Walter Forrester, their great-nephew, wants to share and writing to the Alpine Historical Museum with hopes to donate his collection, including Allen and Sophie’s journals, he begins his own journey.
Told in a series of journal entries, letters, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera, this is a story of the Alaskan wilderness and overcoming the odds.
What I think...
I have been waiting for this book to come out for a year and was in no way disappointed. It’s incredibly good from the actual story (or rather coinciding stories) to the way it was told.
Shifting between present letters between the owner of the artifacts and a museum worker and then to the past journal entries of Colonel Allen Forrester and his wife Sophie, as well as other writers of various documents, gives the story a dimension of realness. At no point did I feel like any of the voices ran together, which to me is a major feat in itself.
As with The Snow Child, Ivey has a delicate touch when describing the Alaskan wilderness. The same can be said for the way in which she includes various aspects of native lore, slowly working up to them or making them something to be questioned by the characters.
When reading this you can tell the amount of research and care that Ivey put into it. There was not only a great deal about the natives living along the river, their lore, and practices, but a large portions devoted to early photography and the challenges with it.
This book hits a range of things at just the right moment, it’s eerie, bittersweet, heartwarming, and, overall, beautifully written from start to finish.
To sum it all up…
An extraordinary book that is difficult to put down once you get started. This certainly has been added to my list of favorite contemporary books and I hope if it's a Pulitzer nomination like her last that it will win! ♥
This book sounds hugely appealing to me. Having strong family ties to the arctic (via the Klondike gold rush), I've always found (seriously, since early childhood) that I'm drawn to just about anything pertaining to the Alaska or the Canadian territories. I am adding this novel to my reading wish list pronto. Thank you so much for the lovely review and introduction to it, sweet dear.
ReplyDeleteBig hugs,
♥ Jessica