Eowyn Ivey's poignant third novel, Black Woods, Blue Sky, is a moving, sometimes heartbreaking meditation on nature, wildness, motherhood, and whether deep love can change someone. Ivey returns to her native Alaska to tell an intimate story set at the edge of the wilderness, against the immense backdrop of the tundra and its unforgiving beauty.
Ivey (The Snow Child; To the Bright Edge of the World) centers her narrative on Birdie, a young single mother fed up with her dead-end waitressing job at the Wolverine Lodge. She adores her daughter, six-year-old Emaleen, and is managing to keep them both fed, but Birdie longs for more: physical and emotional freedom beyond the confines of the lodge, and a chance to let go of the strains of daily life.
When Emaleen wanders off into the woods one day, Arthur Neilsen, a towering, soft-spoken loner, brings her back and captures Birdie's attention in a new way. Although Arthur visits the lodge regularly, he lives in a cabin far up in the mountains, accessible only by plane. Before long, Birdie and Emaleen have moved out to Arthur's cabin, and Birdie is totally absorbed in the joy of living so close to wilderness. But Arthur's true nature may be different than it seems--and Birdie's love for him may not be enough to combat the shadows that lurk just beyond her sight.
Ivey's descriptions bring the tundra to life, immersing readers in its details: tiny wildflowers in blue and purple and pink; sweeping vistas sometimes obscured by sudden, thick fog; clear, sparkling mountain streams and unyielding slabs of rock. The landscape, in its harshness and its beauty, reflects the difficult love story at the novel's center: Birdie is trying to love a man with a secret who is attempting to fit his true character into a mold for which it was not made. But her deep desire may be obscuring some important truths. Emaleen is both witness to her mother's yearning for an epic romance and anchor to a smaller, safer, more practical life. While Emaleen delights in the wild surroundings of their new home, she sees and knows enough to make her wary. Along with Arthur's widowed father, Warren, it is Emaleen who realizes that their idyllic life is fraught with danger.
Quietly suspenseful, laced with beauty and shot through with darkness, Black Woods, Blue Sky explores the nature of courage, the limits of love, and what happens when nature and civilization collide. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: Eowyn Ivey's poignant third novel explores the limits of love and courage against the backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness.