To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

 "..I think of Allen and know precisely what he would say---nothing is impossible. Take one step, and then another, and see where the path leads. Don't think of the obstacles, only the way around them."

               -from Sophie's diary

I finished this book club selection late and did not have time to post prior to the meeting. So I will simply include notes from today's meeting at one sitting. I shared with the group that I had read the wrong book last week which did not give me as much time to read this one. Silly me! A few weeks ago I received an offer from Amazon for a free or very inexpensive copy of a book set in Alaska, Toward the Midnight Sun. Thinking it was our September selection, I was thrilled and downloaded it to my Kindle. It was not until I finished and looked for discussion questions and reviews of the correct book that I realized the author was female and Toward the Midnight Sun had a male author. Of course, I had to quickly pay for the right eBook and start reading pronto!

I enjoyed the story and rated the book a 4. I didn't really see it as a page-turner but I found some of it compelling and all of it very unique and creatively constructed. I learned (or relearned) the word epistolary, meaning written by means of mostly letters and journal entries. There are two correspondences telling the story, one between newlyweds---Lt. Colonel Allen Forrester and wife Sophie---separated by the his expedition into the Alaska territory in 1894. The other was between Walt Forrester, the great-nephew of the colonel, writing to Josh Sloan of the Alpine Historical Museum in Alpine, Alaska, to offer journals and artifacts inherited from his great-uncle. That second set of letters were from a current time.

One member of our group said he resisted reading To the Bright Edge... because he really doesn't like epistolary novels but he ended up reading it in 2 days and rated it a 5! With all ratings between 3 and 5, no one really disliked the novel; the average was 4.2. In the discussion questions offered by the publisher, we agreed the genre was hard to pin down. Call it a mixture of historical fiction, adventure and love story. In Acknowledgments, the author says the novel was inspired by the real-life journey into Alaska by Lt. Henry T. Allen. The author lives in Alaska which obviously gave her a bit of advantage in her descriptions and research.

The magical realism involved in the story was intriguing, if weird. There was the Old Man, aka The Man Who Flies, that seemed to appear out of nowhere and probably took the form of a raven at times. Samuelson, one of Forrester's crew, said he was "devil and angel in one." A baby born of a tree, women who took the form of geese and a lake monster added mystery and excitement to the adventure. The raven, known as a harbinger of death, made frequent appearances throughout.

Parts of the book brought back memories of my two trips to Alaska, though my husband and I traveled by cruise line. I am thankful not to have suffered the torturous journey of the Forrester expedition. The crew saw the Aurora Borealis which we were not fortunate to catch. I remembered standing on a glacier and thinking what a beautiful blue color we saw in the crevasses. In the novel another crew member, Pruitt, said he saw in it the "hues of cold itself." The crew had a problem with mosquitoes at one point; while we were there someone told us the mosquito is the national bird of Alaska! 😀

I enjoyed Sophie's writing most, I think. I enjoy watching birds and especially love hummingbirds, as did Sophie. Her passion for photography was interesting, too. I had much to learn.

This book's structure reminded me of a piece of juvenile fiction I read years ago when I was teaching: Regarding the Fountain, A Tale in Letters, of Liars and Leaks, by Kate Klise. It was also epistolary: the whole story told in letters, postcards, memos, advertisements, classroom chalkboard writing. I found it so creative and enjoyable.

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Photos show the two books---the right one and the wrong one. Check out the authors' names.

Also the Rufous hummingbird, a favorite of Sophie

 

          

Toward the Midnight Sun by Eoin Dempsey

 "All talk was of the gold, or 'the color,' as those who boasted of having more experience had taken to calling it....It had overtaken all else in the minds of the men and women gathered here. There was nothing else now. It was their hope. It was the light at the end of the dark tunnel their lives had become. They had forsaken everything for its promise."

                      -from the novel

I actually read this book by accident! How? you may ask. I will explain in a later post.

The novel takes place over about 3 years time---1897 to 1900---and revolves around the Klondike gold rush. Anna Denton's father has been offered a "bride price" for her hand in marriage by a rich man known as the King of the Klondike. She is willing to marry Henry Bradwell, a man she doesn't know who is 30 years her senior in order to save her family financially. Starting in Seattle, she must make a long and treacherous trip to reach Dawson City in the Yukon Territory near the Canada/Alaska border. Chaperones have been hired by her prospective husband to get her there safely. 

On a boat to Skagway, Anna meets William Leary and Silas Oliver, a couple of friendly young men who are on their way to find gold and make their fortune. As luck would have it, the hired chaperones show they cannot be trusted and Will insists that he and Silas will get Anna to Dawson safely.

After a tedious journey, they do arrive in Dawson where Anna meets her fiancé. I felt the rest of the story was somewhat predictable although it did get rather exciting in spots. I rated this book a 3---good but not great!

I didn't realize until reading about the author that I had read another by him, White Rose, Black Forest, an historical fiction set in WWII Germany which I rated a 5. I guess it was just a more compelling story.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

"But where was there to go in this world that had taken everything she loved? This world of hunting wolves. She used to be the hunter, and now she was the prey."
                       -from the Prologue of the novel

After reading The Alice Network and enjoying it very much, I saw that the author had written a more recent novel, this one, The Huntress. It was another engrossing historical fiction.

The author weaves 3 stories into one. All take place before, during or after WWII. Jordan McBride is introduced first, age 17 in 1946, and an aspiring photographer in Boston. Ian Graham is living in Cologne, Germany, 1950, when the reader first meets him. He is a British war correspondent who carries some emotional wounds from the traumas he's seen and is working at tracking down Nazi war criminals, along with his American partner, Tony Rodomovsky. Nina Markova's story begins in Siberia before the war and continues into it as she becomes a Russian pilot and a member of the all-female night bomber regiment feared by the Germans who called them Night Witches.

Lastly, die Jagerin, the Huntress, is our antagonist. She is a Nazi guilty of heinous crimes who has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Both Ian and Nina have intense personal reasons to want her caught and punished. So the Huntress becomes the hunted, as the quote intimates.

Nina was maybe the most interesting character to me, with her misunderstanding of English and curses in Russian, she adds some humor to a serious story. She rose above a tragic family life and developed a passion for flying. She was fearless (except for one admitted fear, which I will keep to myself) and tenacious in a loveable sort of way. She reminded me of the women of the Alice Network.

Ms. Quinn provides much insight in the Author's Note where she describes her research (considerable!) and which characters are actual historical figures and who the fictional characters were based on. I found it fascinating.

My only complaint about the book is that many sections divided between Jordan, Ian and Nina end with cliffhangers, making you want to know more immediately but you must wait through the next two sections to find out what happened! Frustrating but making for a real page-turner! I will rate The Huntress a 5, an exciting and entertaining read!

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

""Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I've come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned."
            -Bryan Stevenson, from Just Mercy

When folks in our church started talking about the racial unrest in our nation and wondering what our approach should be, it was suggested we form a study/discussion group to learn more. While such a group was being thought out and plans were being made, it came to my attention that the film "Just Mercy" was being shown at no charge for a limited time. I watched the movie and was absolutely fascinated and appalled at the same time. I quickly learned the film was based on a book by the same name and, of course, I ordered it from the library.

Just Mercy has the subtitle "A Story of Justice and Redemption" and that is exactly what it is. It is a gripping story of a young black Harvard-educated lawyer who takes as one of his first clients a man who has been on Alabama's death row for 6 years. Walter McMillan had been falsely accused, wrongfully convicted, and unfairly sentenced. Finally, he found in Bryan Stevenson a lawyer who believed in him and would fight tooth and nail to get him freed.

Bryan started a non-profit called the Equal Justice Initiative, EJI. Walter McMillan's story is the featured case in the book, and the one documented in the movie, but EJI reaches out to try to help women and youth who have been excessively sentenced, particularly to life in prison. These stories were fascinating, as well, and not included in the film.
[From EJI's website:
Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer and bestselling author of Just Mercy, EJI is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. We challenge the death penalty and excessive punishment and we provide re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people.]

It was ironic that the people of Monroeville, AL, where McMillan's alleged crime took place, were very proud to be the setting of the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel about a black man falsely accused of rape.

This nonfiction reads more like fiction---for me a real page-turner, rating a 5! It even had some humor mixed in with all the emotional intensity. I laughed aloud at the part where Bryan meets activist Rosa Parks for the first time and is asked about his work. After he describes what he does at length, she says, "Ooooh, honey, all that's going to make you tired, tired, tired."

I am so impressed with Bryan Stevenson's work demonstrated so well in Just Mercy. He is my new SUPERHERO!