To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars
I wanted to read this because I so enjoyed Pulitzer Prize finalist The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. Her storytelling gifts and lyrical prose style are strong points in that story and in this, her powerful second novel, To The Bright Edge of the World. It is a man-against-nature story which takes place in 1885 with a small team of explorers trying to chart and tame a fictional remote ­wilderness river in uncivilized Alaska Territory. The novel is loosely based on an actual expedition the same year by Lt. Henry T. Allen.
The fictional story is built around a combination of diary entries, letters, and postcards, mostly written by Col. Forrester and his young, pregnant wife, Sophie, but also upon present day letters between a descendant of Forrester and a museum curator which explain artifacts from the exploration. Additionally, there are newspaper stories and period photographs taken and developed by Sophie, a budding photographer, diagrams and excepts from a book on obstetrics, and pictures at various stages in the book which lend a flavor of reality. Native Alaskan myths folklore are woven into the story. It is lush with magical realism, a vehicle I particularly enjoy. The story includes a secret to which I wish there had been more resolution, but overall this was highly creative and interesting novel.

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