To the Bright Edge of the World: A Novel

Ivey, Eowyn

4.13

20,783 ratings by Goodreads

9781478964759: To the Bright Edge of the World: A Novel

ISBN 10: 1478964758 ISBN 13: 9781478964759

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company, 2016

An atmospheric, transporting tale of adventure, love, and survival from the bestselling author of The Snow Child, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

One of the Best Books of 2016--Amazon
A Washington Post Notable Book of 2016
A Goodreads Choice Award Nominee
A Library Journal Top 10 Book of 2016
A BookPage Best Book of 2016

In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads a small band of men on an expedition that has been deemed impossible: to venture up the Wolverine River and pierce the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly pregnant wife, Colonel Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will reach her if he doesn't return--once he passes beyond the edge of the known world, there's no telling what awaits him.

The Wolverine River Valley is not only breathtaking and forbidding but also terrifying in ways that the colonel and his men never could have imagined. As they map the territory and gather information on the native tribes, whose understanding of the natural world is unlike anything they have ever encountered, Forrester and his men discover the blurred lines between human and wild animal, the living and the dead. And while the men knew they would face starvation and danger, they cannot escape the sense that some greater, mysterious force threatens their lives.

Meanwhile, on her own at Vancouver Barracks, Sophie chafes under the social restrictions and yearns to travel alongside her husband. She does not know that the winter will require as much of her as it does her husband, that both her courage and faith will be tested to the breaking point. Can her exploration of nature through the new art of photography help her to rediscover her sense of beauty and wonder?

The truths that Allen and Sophie discover over the course of that fateful year change both of their lives--and the lives of those who hear their stories long after they're gone--forever.

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Review:

An Amazon Best Book of August 2016: I’m just going to say it: Eowyn Ivey can really write. For those who read The Snow Child this statement comes as no surprise. In To the Bright Edge of the World, her second novel, Ivey manages to turn an adventure set in Alaska into much more. The book begins with a contemporary relative donating to a small museum the journals and other artifacts from an 1885 expedition. The journals were written by his great-uncle, Colonel Alan Forrester, and his great-aunt, Sophie. While we read about Alan’s accounts of his full-on Alaskan adventure, we are also introduced to Sophie’s struggles back in Vancouver. Each experiences a shift in the prism through which they see reality—Sophie takes up photography, and Alan begins to develop a more wild view of the world around him. Read it for the adventure. Read it for the time you’ll spend thinking about it long after you’ve turned the last page. --Chris Schluep, The Amazon Book Review

About the Author:

Eowyn LeMay Ivey was raised in Alaska and continues to live there with her husband and two daughters. She received her BA in journalism and minor in creative writing through the honors program at Western Washington University, studied creative nonfiction at the University of Alaska Anchorage graduate program, and worked for nearly 10 years as an award-winning reporter at the Frontiersman newspaper. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Snow Child.

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