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Beyond The North Wind
A woman searches for clues to why her husband went missing and never returned.
For three years, Anna has been in limbo, not knowing what happened to Emil, her husband. Every day she hopes Emil will return but he never does. One day, her dog dies, and Anna is left alone. So she goes in search for the truth about Emil's disappearance.
Her trek takes her across the mountains and glaciers of her native Norway, looking for people who might have met Emil. Did he reach the coast and photograph the sunset? Do the humanists assembling at a villa in Uektefjord know anything about him?
For three years, Anna has been in limbo, not knowing what happened to Emil, her husband. Every day she hopes Emil will return but he never does. One day, her dog dies, and Anna is left alone. So she goes in search for the truth about Emil's disappearance.
Her trek takes her across the mountains and glaciers of her native Norway, looking for people who might have met Emil. Did he reach the coast and photograph the sunset? Do the humanists assembling at a villa in Uektefjord know anything about him?
184 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 27, 2012
About the author
Mark Carew
3 books16 followersMark is the author of the novels Magnus, and The Book of Alexander, both from Salt (www.saltpublishing.com).
He is also the host of a podcast called Joy of Writing. The first series was about the art of writing, with interviews of authors and discussions of their books. The most popular episode was How to Write a Book, with Sally O'Reilly, a creative writing tutor.
The second and current series is a chapter-by-chapter narration of a previously self-published novel called Beyond The North Wind.
Check out the podcast at joyofwriting.buzzsprout.com and the usual podcast feeds.
Mark is Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Exeter, Devon, UK.
He is also the host of a podcast called Joy of Writing. The first series was about the art of writing, with interviews of authors and discussions of their books. The most popular episode was How to Write a Book, with Sally O'Reilly, a creative writing tutor.
The second and current series is a chapter-by-chapter narration of a previously self-published novel called Beyond The North Wind.
Check out the podcast at joyofwriting.buzzsprout.com and the usual podcast feeds.
Mark is Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Exeter, Devon, UK.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 2, 2013
I've been reviewing books for going on five years now. I remember my first 'official' one, that being Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Short version: I hated it. But from there, and pretty consistently, my reading was divided into two categories: the reading of the 'classics' with their mountains of hype, scholarship, interpretations, and legions of acolytes and apostates loving and hating them respectively. Then there were the new releases from authors, somehow, writing and even existing today. But the books from the latter category, like the former, all came from major publishing houses.
Now, I'm no stranger to the small presses or independent publishing houses. I make it a ritual to try and get to the Los Angeles Times Book fair every year. While there I check out the major publishers but also the smaller ones too, you never know what you might find, you know? I do have to admit that, save for Bukowksi, I can't really say for certain that I've read any other writers from the smaller presses (at least from this century, in this country, in this language).
That rambling preamble out of the way, let me get to the book at hand. In short: I was and am surprised, in all the best ways. Mark Carew's Beyond the North Wind has all the depth and grace of a novel published by any of the major houses. Carew brings in his story with the protagonist Anna, a heroine that is real enough to be a relation, is so human that I wouldn't be surprised to meet her on the street, as the mother or aunt of a friend of mine.
The story is perfectly paced and though the beginning is a bit meandering and slow it more than makes up for it with the journey up the mountain (and the absolutely gorgeous descriptions of the snow, the storms, and the glaciers) that rivals anything I've found in international literature I've read up to this date. I feel as though I've walked in Norway myself after finishing this book, and have met these characters and felt their subtle joys and trembling sorrows. And the journey's second half, where Anna, continuing her sojourn to find out what happened to her lost husband Emil, finds her way to an artists/philosophers colony, is similarly well told. It takes its time and allows the new characters to be as human and realistically depicted as Anna.
As a small negative, there were some editorial problems. Piddling issues, nothing that mars the text at all, in fact one more editorial sweep would've taken care of it. And the relationship between Anna and Alexander towards the end, felt a bit cliche, at least the build up, certainly not the conclusion, a bit too reminiscent of Nicholas Sparks for my liking.
The conclusion is satisfying. Haunting and sweet, with just enough of a mystery left to leave me curious, leave me wondering and a bit sad that I had to leave this imagined Norway so soon.
Read it, it's very good, even great at times.
Now, I'm no stranger to the small presses or independent publishing houses. I make it a ritual to try and get to the Los Angeles Times Book fair every year. While there I check out the major publishers but also the smaller ones too, you never know what you might find, you know? I do have to admit that, save for Bukowksi, I can't really say for certain that I've read any other writers from the smaller presses (at least from this century, in this country, in this language).
That rambling preamble out of the way, let me get to the book at hand. In short: I was and am surprised, in all the best ways. Mark Carew's Beyond the North Wind has all the depth and grace of a novel published by any of the major houses. Carew brings in his story with the protagonist Anna, a heroine that is real enough to be a relation, is so human that I wouldn't be surprised to meet her on the street, as the mother or aunt of a friend of mine.
The story is perfectly paced and though the beginning is a bit meandering and slow it more than makes up for it with the journey up the mountain (and the absolutely gorgeous descriptions of the snow, the storms, and the glaciers) that rivals anything I've found in international literature I've read up to this date. I feel as though I've walked in Norway myself after finishing this book, and have met these characters and felt their subtle joys and trembling sorrows. And the journey's second half, where Anna, continuing her sojourn to find out what happened to her lost husband Emil, finds her way to an artists/philosophers colony, is similarly well told. It takes its time and allows the new characters to be as human and realistically depicted as Anna.
As a small negative, there were some editorial problems. Piddling issues, nothing that mars the text at all, in fact one more editorial sweep would've taken care of it. And the relationship between Anna and Alexander towards the end, felt a bit cliche, at least the build up, certainly not the conclusion, a bit too reminiscent of Nicholas Sparks for my liking.
The conclusion is satisfying. Haunting and sweet, with just enough of a mystery left to leave me curious, leave me wondering and a bit sad that I had to leave this imagined Norway so soon.
Read it, it's very good, even great at times.
March 3, 2023
I received a free digital copy from a Goodreads giveaway. The premise was good. As was the basic storyline. There were a few instances that editing should have cleared up (on one page, Anna's phone is given back to her, then 2 pages later, another character hands her phone to her also). At first, the story felt disjointed. I wasn't certain what role the retreat played in it. Those parts felt misplaced as I was reading. I guess, in the end, it made sense, just exactly how it fit? But I'm still not certain. But the idea of a woman, whose husband went missing on a glacier, going off in search of him, was a good basis for a story. I am just not certain how well it was ultimately executed.
May 4, 2026
Set in the sparkle and shiver of the arctic, this is a story of searching and surpassing, imbued with artistic works and visions. The unassuming protagonist must abandon those who want what's best for her in order to find and leave her soul mate.
September 28, 2025
Anna is traumatised by the loss of her husband, who went missing three years ago in northern Norway. She embarks on a very strange journey to understand what happened to him.
August 8, 2024
#Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you for the Kindle copy in exchange for an honest review.
After some initial confusion, this book grabbed me and pulled me in. Compelling characters, vivid landscapes and descriptions of art. I was struck by how much love and kindness were in this book. And how different characters worked through the grief of loss. I imagine this book will stay with me for some time to come.
If you are a reader who needs everything explained by the end of a book, you may find this one frustrating. I happen to like books that make me think and puzzle things over. Not that this story was obtuse. Anna and the world she inhabits, the people, places & animals, are particularly vivid, and her quest for her missing husband is heart-achingly understandable.
Alexander/Sacha is much more of an enigma, and the book hurtles the reader into his mind in the first chapter with little context. There are vague references to events that happened before the book opened (more about that later).
Alexander's and Anna's chapters alternate at first, then we dive fully into Anna's story and her point of view through the rest of the book. Their paths cross later, but we no longer have peeks into the man's brain.
I did something I rarely do upon finishing reading a book: I immediately went back and revisited the initial Alexander/Sacha chapters once I had the context of the book. I'm glad I did. I also looked up Mark Carew's other books. Was this indeed the first, or did I miss another that might serve as a prequel? If publication/copyright dates are an indication, this was the first book. But interestingly, it appears that later book(s), particularly "Magnus" provides some clues as to those aforementioned "vague references." Interesting. I have to believe that more than one book's storyline populated Carew's mind for some time. I can relate--all I have to do is to revisit my own writing journals kept over the years to see the percolation of similar thought processes.
I am not one to revisit a book blurb in my reviews, and I tend to skirt around spoilers. I do recommend this book to people who enjoy books that stick with them and make them think, and perhaps find themselves weaving after-stories in their heads.
If a book's atmosphere tends to get under your skin, I recommend reading this one in summer, or a warmer clime, or at least wrapped in a favorite sweater with a steaming hot beverage nearby. It takes you through the colder, more extreme elements of the earth, contemplating survival. Interestingly, the book harkened me back to a vacation I took pre-COVID, exploring the fjords and glaciers of Alaska, staring into the nearly indescribable luminescent blue of glacial ice, feeling the crunch of my crampons and hearing the echoing boom! of calving towers crashing into the silty water. And something else came back to me, something I thought I'd lost forever through the ravages of the pandemic--wanderlust!
After some initial confusion, this book grabbed me and pulled me in. Compelling characters, vivid landscapes and descriptions of art. I was struck by how much love and kindness were in this book. And how different characters worked through the grief of loss. I imagine this book will stay with me for some time to come.
If you are a reader who needs everything explained by the end of a book, you may find this one frustrating. I happen to like books that make me think and puzzle things over. Not that this story was obtuse. Anna and the world she inhabits, the people, places & animals, are particularly vivid, and her quest for her missing husband is heart-achingly understandable.
Alexander/Sacha is much more of an enigma, and the book hurtles the reader into his mind in the first chapter with little context. There are vague references to events that happened before the book opened (more about that later).
Alexander's and Anna's chapters alternate at first, then we dive fully into Anna's story and her point of view through the rest of the book. Their paths cross later, but we no longer have peeks into the man's brain.
I did something I rarely do upon finishing reading a book: I immediately went back and revisited the initial Alexander/Sacha chapters once I had the context of the book. I'm glad I did. I also looked up Mark Carew's other books. Was this indeed the first, or did I miss another that might serve as a prequel? If publication/copyright dates are an indication, this was the first book. But interestingly, it appears that later book(s), particularly "Magnus" provides some clues as to those aforementioned "vague references." Interesting. I have to believe that more than one book's storyline populated Carew's mind for some time. I can relate--all I have to do is to revisit my own writing journals kept over the years to see the percolation of similar thought processes.
I am not one to revisit a book blurb in my reviews, and I tend to skirt around spoilers. I do recommend this book to people who enjoy books that stick with them and make them think, and perhaps find themselves weaving after-stories in their heads.
If a book's atmosphere tends to get under your skin, I recommend reading this one in summer, or a warmer clime, or at least wrapped in a favorite sweater with a steaming hot beverage nearby. It takes you through the colder, more extreme elements of the earth, contemplating survival. Interestingly, the book harkened me back to a vacation I took pre-COVID, exploring the fjords and glaciers of Alaska, staring into the nearly indescribable luminescent blue of glacial ice, feeling the crunch of my crampons and hearing the echoing boom! of calving towers crashing into the silty water. And something else came back to me, something I thought I'd lost forever through the ravages of the pandemic--wanderlust!
October 18, 2012
Set on the west coast of Northern Norway, a good story with good descriptions of the glaciers and mountainous back country in that area.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews