On today's show, we speak with the gifted Alaskan writer Eowyn Ivey, whose first novel, "The Snow Child" (Reagan Arthur Books), appeared earlier this year to international acclaim. (And yes, in case you're wondering, Eowyn's mother did name her after a character in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings.") As the following rave review from a critic at Amazon.com has noted: "In her haunting, evocative debut, Eowyn Ivey stakes her claim on a Russian fairy tale, daring the reader --- and the characters --- to be lulled into thinking they know the ending. But, as with the Alaskan wilderness, there's far more here than meets the eye. On the surface it's the story of a childless pioneer couple running from their East Coast lives and struggling to survive in the harshest of climates while also attempting to reconnect with each other; but it's also the story of the spring of hope that bubbles out of new friendships, of the slow realization of love for a surrogate child, of the ties between man and nature. Ivey spares no words in describing the beauty and the danger of her native Alaska, bringing the sheer magnitude of the wilderness alive on every page. With the transparent prose of a fairy tale and descriptions to put nature writing to shame, 'The Snow Child' immerses readers in a 1920s Alaska that will draw them back again and again." Also on today's StudioTulsa, our commentator Collin Hinds treks into the wilds of a rugged frontier much closer to home: Turkey Mountain in West Tulsa.
Eowyn Ivey and "The Snow Child"
