Between Two Worlds

Starred review from February 10, 2014
Kirkpatrick sets this engrossing work of historical fiction in Greenland in 1900–1901, when an American ship arrives with supplies for Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary; on board are his wife and 10-year-old daughter (whose story Kirkpatrick told in her nonfictional 2007 book The Snow Baby). Narrator Billy Bah is a 16-year-old married Inuit woman who lived in America with Peary’s family for a year during her childhood. Her experiences motivated her parents to follow suit, but they died in America. Deeply Inuit in spiritual foundation and lifestyle, Billy Bah nevertheless feels caught between cultures, a feeling that intensifies when her husband begins trading her (a common Inuit practice) to an American sailor to whom she grows deeply attracted. Rich details about building igloos; hunting, preparing, and eating animals; and sewing clothing from their skins and furs (Billy Bah is an expert seamstress who outfitted Peary’s expeditions) create a total immersion in Inuit life. While the sexuality isn’t explicit, the story’s mature themes recommend it to older readers. Includes extensive and equally fascinating historical notes, as well as a timeline of the real-life events. Ages 14–up.

March 15, 2014
This strong historical novel portrays the impact of Robert E. Peary's polar expeditions on the family and world of a young Inuit woman who joined them. Her Inuit family in Greenland named her Eqariusaq, but to whites, she's Billy Bah. Peary's daughter, Marie, named her when she spent a year with the Peary family in the States. A few years later, on a trip also arranged by Peary, her parents died in Washington, D.C. Peary's ship returns to Greenland, carrying his family, to find Peary gone and heads to Ellesmere Island to search for him. Billy Bah, her husband, Angulluk, and Peary's Inuit lover and their child (whose existence is a shock to Mrs. Peary) sail with them. Angulluk often "trades" Billy Bah to white sailors in exchange for guns and ammunition, though many Inuit disapprove. She enjoys a kind sailor's affection and Marie's genuine friendship, but she is increasingly disturbed by the whites' lack of consideration for her people, who are expected to risk their lives to serve the expedition. It's a compelling yet matter-of-fact portrait of a community accustomed to life on the knife edge of survival, of extraordinary beauty and harsh realities. Readers see through Billy Bah's eyes--events are neither explained for outsiders nor reframed in a contemporary context (unfortunate cover art excepted). Readers accept her assumptions about her world; when she begins to question them--so do they. Stripped of airbrushed romanticism and Eurocentric gloss, a rare look at culture clash arising from polar exploration. (map, photo, Inuktun glossary, historical timeline, notes) (Historical fiction. 14-18)

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May 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Based on a true story, this gripping novel set in 1900 Greenland is narrated by a 16-year-old married Inuit woman. Billy Bah's life has been intertwined (rather tragically) with that of Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary since childhood, when she spent a year in America with his family. When Peary's wife and daughter arrive in her village on a supply ship, Billy Bah is one of the few who can translate and organize an expedition of native men and American sailors to find Peary, who has gone further north to the "Musk Ox Land." The journey proves harrowing as the ship becomes icebound for the winter and everyone is stranded for nine months in a remote Arctic outpost. As much a story of survival as it is a coming-of-age tale, the strength here lies in the fascinating details of daily native life (hunting, cooking, igloo building) and cultural customs (birth and death rites, marital and divorce practices). Billy Bah, an expert seamstress, is "traded" by her husband to a white sailor for supplies and unexpectedly finds herself falling in love with him, a conflict that proves pivotal to the story. While never explicitly graphic, themes of love, sex, and racism are for mature teen readers. Realistic and likable, Billy Bah provides an intriguing viewpoint to a place and time rarely written about in young adult fiction.-Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2014
Grades 7-10 The year is 1900, and 16-year-old Inuit girl Billy Bah is the only one of her far-northern Greenland community to have traveled to the U.S., with famed polar explorer Robert E. Peary. As a result, she is akkunaptingui, between two worlds, not knowing where she belongs. Her sense of dislocation is exacerbated when her husband trades her to an American sailor, Duncan, in exchange for goods, and Billy Bah finds herself falling in love with the red-haired American. That she remains married to her husband, whom she also loves, further complicates the young woman's life. When she and others make a dangerous trek to find Peary, she suffers a near-fatal accident and learns the bitter truth about the death of her parents in America where they, too, had traveled with Peary. Based on a true story, Between Two Worlds, does a seamless job of weaving factual material into the otherwise imagined narrative. The true facts of Billy Bah's fascinating life are incorporated into a lengthy, appended historical note. A strong choice for both independent reading and classroom use.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)