To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow Child, is historical fiction based on the 1885 exploration of Lt. Henry T. Allen into Alaska after the US purchased it from Russia. In the novel, Colonel Allen Forrester leads a small party up the Wolverine River into totally uncharted territory encountering Native American Indians along the way, facing starvation, and meeting shamans and other mythic creatures that blur the lines between the human and animal world.

Back home, his wife Sophie, a naturalist and photographer in her own right, waits for her husband’s safe return. Pieced together through journal entries, letters, newspaper articles, photos and museum archives, Ivey has created a story that captures Alaska’s vast unknown wilderness and the vast unknown wilderness of our own human soul. A stunning achievement and worthy follow up to The Snow Child. A great read.