Marjorie's World of Books

Yasmine’s husband, Matt, is in Alaska making a wildlife film. When Yasmine and her deaf 10-yr-old daughter Ruby are told that Ruby’s father, Matt, has died in a horrendous fire, they refuse to believe it.  Even with a storm headed their way, they set out for the remote frontier where Matt is last known to have been. 

I have to admit that the decisions that Yasmine makes do sometimes stretch reality quite a bit. Here she is with a little deaf girl, her own daughter, and she heads out to a section of Alaska with no one anywhere near to help, in complete darkness, with temperatures at minus 35, with a hurricane force storm on its way.  There’s bravery and there’s love for your husband but then there’s above all the need to keep your child safe.  But I think the author does do a good job with some back flashes of Yasmine and Matt’s life together and the desperation that Ruby not lose her father that make it believable. 

This is a very well written book with a great plot. Ms. Lupton knows how to racket up the suspense.  But if you’re anything like me, you won’t sweat as you read this thriller but instead will go put on an extra sweater as this is one frigidly cold book!  The author’s descriptions of the biting cold and raging winds are so detailed that you really feel that you’re along for the ride in this Artic wilderness.   I absolutely loved Yasmine, Matt and mostly little Ruby.  I very much enjoyed the character study of this family and the trials that Ruby faced as a deaf child.  Also interesting were the wildlife lessons that Matt taught Ruby, the politics and dangers of fracking and the history of the region’s people.

I won an ARC edition of this book in a LibraryThings contest.