The Voyage of the Narwhal
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REVIEW BY BETH DURIS
Erasmus Darwin Wells has a history of failure. At 40, he has no wife, no children, no close friends, and his life's work as a scholar-naturalist has come to almost nothing. Yet, as Andrea Barrett's fascinating new adventure novel demonstrates, it's never too late for a second chance. Set in the mid-19th century, The Voyage of the Narwhal follows Wells and the crew as they set sail for the Arctic, hoping to find the missing explorer Sir John Franklin and perhaps get a glimpse of an open polar sea. As she did in the National Book Award-winning Ship Fever, Barrett seamlessly weaves fact and fiction, incorporating historical figures such as Sir Franklin, Thoreau, and Darwin into the lives of her fictional characters. The voyage starts off well, and an early encounter with a tribe of Greenland Esquimaux suggests that Franklin and his men had, in fact, traveled the same path. Driven on by the obsessive ambition of their commander, Zeke, however, the crew soon find themselves trapped in the ice, forced to endure an impossibly long, cruel winter off the coast of Greenland. The true nature of each man begins to emerge as they struggle to survive. For Wells, it is a life-changing experience. He finds his first true friend in a fellow naturalist on the crew and remarks that they "talk about what we've seen -- how nature, in this place and season, is reduced to her bones . . . It is so, so beautiful here, despite the danger, despite the discomfort; I would never have chosen to winter here yet it's as if I was waiting my whole life to see this." Indeed, Barrett's extraordinarily detailed and poetic descriptions bring to life the "stark and radiant landscape" of the Arctic and its romantic appeal for 19th-century explorers. The turning point of the story arrives when Zeke, who has set out alone for one last expedition, fails to return. Summer is nearly over and the crew cannot survive another winter on the Narwhal. Wells must decide what to do. The consequences of his decision to leave Zeke -- who is also his sister's fiancee -- drive the rest of the story. During his winter in the Arctic, Wells mulls Thoreau's observation that "it is easier to sail many thousand miles through cold and storm and cannibals . . . than it is to explore the private sea, the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean of one's own being." With this remarkable novel, Barrett proves the truth in Thoreau's words. Beth Duris is a writer for The Nature Conservancy in Arlington, Virginia.
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