To the
Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
I fell in
love with Ivey’s first novel, The Snow
Child, and its many mystical qualities and themes of love, loss, and her vivid
appreciation of the Alaskan terrain. To
the Bright Edge of the World is quite different from Ivey’s first novel but
once again, I was drawn in by her ability to capture the reader within the
first few pages.
The novel is
written entirely in the form of letters and journal entries. Beginning in what
we can assume is the present tense with a letter to a museum curator who
collects artifacts for the Alpine Historical Museum, Ivey sets out to take the
reader along on an Alaskan expedition that took place 1885. She writes,
The Colonel’s journey was
a harrowing one. Maybe it was doomed from the beginning, but I don’t see as to
how that takes away from its importance. His expedition is surely the Alaskan
equivalent of Lewis and Clark’s, and these papers are some of the earliest,
firsthand descriptions of those northern lands and natives. (3)
We then
begin to follow Lieut. Col. Allen Forrester through his diary entries as he
embarks to explore the uncharted territory of Alaska on March 21, 1885. Forrester
and meager crew set out from Perkins Island, Alaska with the goal of reaching
Norton Sound before winter. Meanwhile, Forrester’s new bride, Sophie, living in
the Vancouver Barracks, keeps her own diary while waiting for her husband’s
return.
I think the
novel gives equal service to Col. Forrester and Sophie. Not only does Ivey
share the hardships and perils of the Colonel’s journey, but also Sophie’s
longing for her husband and development of her own interests during her husband’s absence. Sophie is portrayed as an
independent young woman who is interested in birds and botany. Throughout the
novel she develops a passion and a keen eye for photography. Thus the novel
details the process of early photography and the challenges women faced in
general in the 1800s if they chose to stray from commonplace female mindset of
that era. Sophie had little interest in hosting teas and attending parties while
wearing the latest fashion. Instead, she opted to explore the woods in search
of bird nests—especially that of the elusive hummingbird. Midway through the
novel Sophie writes, “I am not even sure I will know it when I see it, yet I
possess in my mind a scene. The gentle warm light of early evening. A slender
branch. The promise of an unbroken egg-shell; life aquiver in feather and
flesh. Yet it is the light that holds my desire” (234). As a photographer who
practices seeing light in different ways, I appreciated this passage and many
others. The reader becomes enamored with Sophie’s goal and I found myself
cheering her on in hopes that she would be successful.
Colonel
Forrester’s diary details his journey across uncharted Alaskan territory and
the meeting of native tribes in the Wolverine River Valley. This is where Ivey
incorporates the enchanted and mystical qualities of the novel. The reader, and
even Colonel Forrester, wonder if they are merely hallucinating due to hunger
and poor provisions. Forrester declines to share in his Army reports of the
native woman whose husband turned into an otter and now wears his pelt around
her neck; or when they came upon women splashing in a river and they
disappeared as a flock of geese rose up and flew out of the water; or The Man
Who Flies who at one moment was a man perched in a tree bringing good luck or
bad to the crew and at times even stealing their provisions, and another time
was a crow visiting Sophie at the Barracks.
Throughout
the novel Colonel Forrester’s great-uncle corresponds with the Alaska museum
curator. In these letters Ivey touches on a variety themes including: the
future of mining in Alaska, the later devastation to the native tribes brought on
by the very expedition laid out by Colonel Forrester, the changes in the
Alaskan territory and the Wolverine River Valley, and even the impact museums
face when they lack funds and resources.
The novel
ends with a newspaper clipping applauding Sophie Forrester’s work as one of the
first aviary photographers and female naturalists. Ivey ties up the ending
well, though possibly a little too neatly. My only wish was that I could have
read the diaries of Sophie and Colonel Forrester after they were reunited at
the Vancouver Barracks.
Without
giving too much away, the themes of fatherhood, motherhood, loss, and tender
love are currents that run through Colonel Forrester’s and Sophie’s diary
entries. With this novel, Ivey continues to woo her readers with magical
realism, gentle portraits of marriage, and adventure in the unforgiving terrain
of Alaska.
