The Cage

May 29, 1995
A female wildlife photographer joins an all-male expedition to northern Canada to photograph polar bears, only to find herself trapped with the others on the frozen terrain.

March 1, 1994
In this feminist adventure story, Beryl is the only woman member of a photographic team sent on assignment to Churchill, Manitoba to capture polar bears in their natural habitat. Accompanied by three men, a video cameraman, a writer, and a guide, Beryl must learn to work in the extreme cold of the Canadian tundra and in dangerous proximity to the massive animals. To escape the weather and the bears, the team is forced to spend long hours together in close quarters. The cage of the title is both a literal one--a small iron enclosure from which to photograph the bears in safety--and a metaphorical one--the cage of helplessness and inferiority from which women are emerging to challenge men at their own games. Although it may leave you longing for a hot cocoa beside a warm fire, this gripping, fast-paced narrative is recommended.-- Barbara Love, St. Lawrence Coll., Kingston, Ontario

April 1, 1994
In this haunting first novel, Beryl, a young photographer who specializes in animals, is hired by the magazine "Natural Photography" to join an expedition to the northern reaches of Canada to take pictures of polar bears. The three other members of the expedition are all men. Their first week on the job is spent in Churchill, a town near Hudson Bay, where the bears take over in October and November, scavenging for food in the town dump and attracting tourists. For the next phase of the expedition, the team is to live out on the tundra in a custom-equipped bus. Almost from the start, things go wrong. While they are still in Churchill, Beryl gets lost in a blizzard and suffers severe frostbite. The cold causes problems with cameras and film. When they venture out in the bus, they soon realize how ill-equipped they are to handle the severe conditions. The expedition turns into a struggle for survival, and, ultimately, a disaster. Bears may be caged in warmer climates; but in the Arctic, it is human beings who are alien, while the bears are at home. The author relates her story in spare prose that reflects both Beryl's personality and the economy of movement needed to survive in so harsh a place. ((Reviewed Apr. 1, 1994))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1994, American Library Association.)