Black Woods, Blue Sky

Black Woods, Blue Sky

Eowyn Ivey

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

An unforgettable reimagining of Beauty and the Beast that asks the question: can love save us from ourselves? Birdie’s keeping it together, of course she is. So she's a little hungover sometimes on her shifts, and she has to bring her daughter Emaleen to work while she waits tables at an Alaskan roadside lodge, but it's a tough town to be a single mother, and Emaleen never goes hungry. Arthur Neilsen is a soft-spoken recluse, with scars across his face, who brings Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods one day. He speaks with a strange cadence, appears in town only at the change of seasons, and is avoided by most people. But to Birdie he represents everything she’s ever longed for. He lives in a cabin in the mountains on the far side of the Wolverine River and tells Birdie about the caribou, marmots and wild sheep that share his untamed world. She falls in love with him and the land he knows so well. Against the warnings of those who care about her, Birdie moves to his isolated cabin. She and her daughter are alone with Arthur in a vast wilderness, hundreds of miles from roads, telephones, electricity, or outside contact, but Birdie believes she has come prepared. She can start a fire and cook on a wood stove. She has her rifle and fishing rod. But soon Birdie realizes she is not prepared for what lies ahead.


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  • bookgang
    Mar 30, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

     
    Described as a reimagined Beauty and the Beast, Ivey spins a dark yarn in her mesmerizing third novel, which left me in a puddle of tears after I finished the final page.

    Single mother Birdie struggles to get by in a rough Alaskan town while waiting tables, often with her young daughter, Emaleen, by her side at a local inn. An alcoholic who engages regularly in risky behavior and frequently leaves her daughter unsupervised, she's not a mother you may find yourself rooting for at the top of the story.

    But when Arthur Neilsen—a reclusive stranger with a haunting backstory—rescues Emaleen from the woods, Birdie is drawn to both him and the untamed world he inhabits. Against all warnings from wary locals, she and Emaleen follow him deep into the remote mountains, where life begins in his dusty, neglected, moss-covered home, which the girls immediately fill with great care and love.

    At first, their stay seems idyllic—days filled with mushroom hunting, berry picking, and finally, time to rest or play together. Emaleen, now isolated from the rest of the world, relies heavily upon her mother for constant entertainment. Birdie struggles to meet her daughter's demands even when basking in a more carefree life in the mountains. While Arthur disappears for days, she is left alone to keep their home, entertain, feed, and care for Emaleen- tasks that weigh heavily on her. This push and pull in her motherhood story creates many relatable and beautiful passages like, "It was impossible what Birdie wanted. To go alone, to experience the world on her own terms. But also, to share it all with Emaleen."

    But the dream unravels when Emaleen spots Arthur through a pair of binoculars roaming the woods wearing only a bear skin. The dependability and security Birdie and Emaleen craved have now put them in a precarious position in the middle of nowhere. This eerie detail shifts the novel's trajectory, leading to a haunting exploration of Arthur's chilling origin story as a child—crafted with the same depth and wonder that defined Ivey's magical realism debut, The Snow Child.

    Ivey's extensive research, including two weeks spent in a remote hunting camp on Kodiak Island, infuses the narrative with rich, sensory details. The immersive descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness, the lush and dangerous landscape, and the mysterious bear skin all root the story firmly in reality. Yet the creeping sense of dread and wonder in the darkly imagined fable portions is what makes this new novel utterly unputdownable.

     

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