Heartbroke Bay

September 6, 2010
The pseudonymous D'Urso's bleak and promising debut is based on a true incident first covered by Jack London in 1906. August 1898 finds 23-year old Hannah Butler accompanying her stuffy British employer on holiday in the American West. Bored stiff, Hannah soon elopes with Hans Nelson, and the two head to Alaska in search of quick riches. En route, they partner with ex-Confederate soldier Harky, eccentric prospector/guide Dutch, and boat captain Michael Severts. They all end up in remote Lituya Bay, in southeast Alaska, where they establish a camp and catch a gold fever that runs nearly as hot as Hannah's clandestine lust for Michael. But misfortune hits: Michael loses his boat to an iceberg, and as the bitter Alaskan winter bears down, the group's dire circumstances worsen, culminating in a bloody rampage. The prospectors' amazing tale of survival proves to be an unsettling portrait of human greed, deceit, and betrayal, ably captured by D'Urso's lean, direct prose.

October 1, 2010
Twenty-three-year-old Victorian Englishwoman Hannah Butler is thoroughly bored and also feels trapped working as a maid for Lady Hamilton. Hannah must work for four years to pay off the debts incurred by her father. So when gold prospector Hans Nelson offers her a way out, she jumps at the chance to become his wife and soon finds herself in Alaska. However, the couple is unprepared for the deprivations of the densely crowded gold-rush town and find themselves setting sail for a distant fjord populated by Tlingit Indians led by the wise man Negook. They are accompanied by a hulking Civil War vet who is deeply traumatized by what he has seen and done during the war, a charming Irishman who possesses superior sailing skills, and a Dutchman who claims that Lituya Bay will yield enough gold to make them all rich. And they do indeed find gold, but they also find themselves overmatched by the harsh weather, the unforgiving landscape, and the treachery of their own hearts. First-novelist DUrso will keep her readers enthralled with this adventurous story relayed in crisp, cinematic prose.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)