Northern Edge: A Novel of Survival in Alaska's Arctic

by Barbara Quick

A city woman leaves her office job in Berkeley in pursuit of adventure and romance in Alaska. What she finds is a landscape of stark beauty, physical hardship, a rivalry turned friendship with an extraordinary woman--and herself.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 1990

About the author

Novelist and poet Barbara Quick is the author of VIVALDI'S VIRGINS, published in July 2007 (quality paperback edition in 2008) by HarperCollins and sold for translation in 14 countries, as well as the YA historical title, A GOLDEN WEB, published by HarperTeen in 2010. More information at http://www.barbaraquick.com"

Reviews

[L-A · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I drape the antlers around my neck, the broadest 'fingers' curving out from each of my shoulders. I want to carry these things with me into my future. My future! It's all blurry and blank - amorphous, terrifying, unknown. I remember something my classics teacher at Berkeley said about the ancient Greeks' notion of time: the past is in front of you, discernable in all its detail. It's the future that walks at your heels, unseeable, about to catch you."

I'm not sure why this book wasn't rated higher. In my opinion, it was a wonderful reflection on life, femininity, masculinity, nature, and what it means to be human.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A city woman leaves her office job in Berkeley in pursuit of adventure and romance in Alaska. What she finds is a landscape of stark beauty, physical hardship, a rivalry turned friendship with an extraordinary woman--and herself."

I was expecting descriptions of incredible landscapes, descriptions of Alaskan wildlife, descriptions of the frozen North. This book didn't have any of that. It was a pleasant read about survival in a harsh climate, a young woman's maturing under harsh circumstances, and an unlikely but enduring friendship.

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tay McElroy leaves behind a dull academic environment for an ecological adventure in Alaska. She finds herself on a team of researchers counting birds and her descriptions here are colorful and you can tell they are based on the journal she kept during her summer in Alaska. One would hope the adultery and lascivious living are works of fiction rather than journal entries. : )

Her relationship with Phoebe, whose husband she slept with, develops into a deep admiration and friendship and hey, there’s a baby with another man she worked with. Quite the summer. : )

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman who has been working as a secretary at a college in San Francisco gets the opportunity to work in Alaska for a summer. At the last minute the office job turns into field work instead and she has experiences in the wild that she never would have dreamed of otherwise.
Sex, sexual situations, drinking. But also an unusual look at what is typically considered "a man's world" of the outbacks of Alaskan wilderness. Not a great read, but entertaining.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an entertaining read, but I was troubled by the author's continued use of the term "eskimos" for the native people. Since 1977, that term has been considered offensive. Another line that stood out to me early on is when Tay says she would be afraid of a black man walking in her neighborhood at night. These two things came early on and tainted me against the author, but I still finished it. It should be edited.

[Amber Powers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why this book wasn't rated higher. I really enjoyed learning about the Alaskan wilderness. Great character devrlopment, loved Tay and Phoebe's relationship.