To the Bright Edge of the World

Starred review from June 13, 2016
An 1885 wilderness expedition, a female pioneer of photography, and Native American myths come to life make Ivey’s second novel (after The Snow Child) an entrancing, occasionally chilling, depiction of turn-of-the-century Alaska. Through diaries, letters, reports, newspaper clippings, drawings, and photographs, Ivey evokes an Indian Wars veteran’s expedition up the Wolverine River into Alaska’s northern interior. Colonel Allen Forrester’s mission is to map the territory, make contact with inhabitants, and collect information for future (military or commercial) enterprises. While his wife, Sophie, remains in Vancouver, Forrester sets off with the intellectually gifted Pruitt and Sergeant Tillman, a rough-and-tumble miner’s son. Others joining the party include a trapper, his partner, a Native American woman who claims to have slit her husband’s throat, and a dog. But the strangest traveling companion, more nemesis than guide, is an old Native American known as the Man Who Flies on Black Wings, who is reputed to be a raven who can take the form of man. Bogged down by the terrain and his own ignorance, loosening ties to civilization if not reality, Pruitt succumbs to memories, and Forrester refuses to shoot wild geese fearing they may be humans in animal form. Sophie, meanwhile, learns to use a camera, building her own darkroom and a hunter’s blind to photograph bird nests in the wild. Years later, a descendant of the Forresters donates their journals and artifacts to a museum in the small town now on the expedition route, site of rafting tours and a million-dollar fishing lodge. In this splendid adventure novel, Ivey captures Alaska’s beauty and brutality, not just preserving history, but keeping it alive. Agent: Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary.

This audiobook tells a haunting and haunted story of a late-nineteenth-century Alaskan expedition to the uncharted Wolverine River, a territory full of physical and psychic, even supernatural, dangers. It is vividly imagined and cleverly structured, juxtaposing diaries, letters, and official expedition reports with the contemporary voices of those, white and Native Alaskan, involved in preserving and curating those documents. Unfortunately, the voice of the expedition leader, Col. Allen Forrester, a battle-hardened Civil War veteran and western campaigner, is given in a soft, whispery tone, more Mr. Rogers than John Wayne. The letters and diary of his young wife, Sophie, are marred differently, by a faux-fancy "Masterpiece Theater" accent that serves no purpose. Still, the story is original and compelling, well worth the listen. B.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

December 5, 2016
This tale of Alaskan adventure is really three interwoven stories in one: first, the 1885 diary of Col. Allen Forrester, who leads an expedition up the Wolverine River to explore the then-uncharted wilderness of Alaska; second, the simultaneous diary of his pregnant wife, Sophie, left in the Vancouver Barracks to await his return; and lastly, the modern-day framing story, told in letters between Walt, the grand-nephew of the colonel, and Josh, caretaker of an Alaska history museum, who Walt hopes will take the journals and other artifacts and create a museum exhibit around them. Reader Lakin’s rendition of Sophie is the standout performance in this multiple-actor effort: her bright, lively, expressive voice perfectly conveys Sophie’s intelligence, curiosity, and spunky spirit. Glouchevich has a gravelly voice that is well suited for Walt, and he varies his tone enough to differentiate him from Josh. As Forrester, Vandenheuvel sounds earnest and observant but he maintains the same calm, even, slightly whispery tone at all times, even when recounting moments of high danger and intensity on the expedition. This audiobook will appeal to those who enjoy stories of exploration or the tales of Jack London. A Little, Brown hardcover.