She feels stifled by the views of society on the place of women. There is so much in Sophie's diaries as well.
The vivid details of the trek, the hunger, the danger of enemies both human and non, the goodness of natives met along the way take you there. The descriptions of the landscape and natural surroundings take you there.
All of this is contained within a current day story of a descendant of Forrester, depicted in correspondence with a young man in Alaska who curates a museum of Alaska's history. Allen Forrester in which he details the long and arduous journey along the Wolverine River to Alaska while on a reconnaissance mission, alternating with his wife Sophie's diary as she waits for his return. Mainly it is told through the journal of Lieut. Ivey does a masterful job of blending these pieces to create a story of adventure, of history, of love, of native tribes of the Wolverine, of spirits, of the uncharted place that was Alaska in 1885. It's a different kind of narrative consisting of journal entries, drawings, photos, diary entries, descriptions of artifacts, newspaper articles, official army reports and my favorite selections, the beautiful love letters. Although this one is a very different kind of story, it is gripping and beautiful as well and told in a unique way. I wanted to read this book because The Snow Child is such a beautifully told story and Ivey's writing is so captivating. She has genuine cause to worry about her pregnancy, and it is with deep uncertainty about what their future holds that she and her husband part.Ī story shot through with a darker but potent strand of the magic that illuminated The Snow Child, and with the sweep and insight that characterizes Rose Tremain's The Colour, this novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Eowyn Ivey singles her out as a major literary talent.
Sophie is pregnant with their first child, and does not relish the prospect of a year in a military barracks while her husband embarks upon the journey of a lifetime. The Wolverine is the key to opening up Alaska and its huge reserves of gold to the outside world, but previous attempts have ended in tragedy.įor Forrester, the decision to accept this mission is even more difficult, as he is only recently married to Sophie, the wife he had perhaps never expected to find. Set again in the Alaskan landscape that she brought to stunningly vivid life in The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey's second novel is a breathtaking story of discovery and adventure, set at the end of the nineteenth century, and of a marriage tested by a closely held secret.Ĭolonel Allen Forrester receives the commission of a lifetime when he is charged to navigate Alaska's hitherto impassable Wolverine River, with only a small group of men.
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