Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2015
272 pages
Genre: Science, Health and the Environment
Publication Information
"Compulsively readable… it both heightens life and plumbs its deepest mysteries, laying bare the beauty of both the world and the soul."
In 2010, bestselling author Kathleen Winter embarked on a journey across the storied Northwest Passage, among marine scientists, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and curious passengers. From Greenland to Baffin Island and all along the passage, Winter bears witness to the new math of the North - where polar bears mates with grizzlies, creating a new hybrid species; where the earth is on the cusp of yielding so much buried treasure that five nations stand poised to claim sovereignty of the land; and where the local Inuit population struggles to navigate the tension between taking part in the new global economy and defending their traditional way of life.
Throughout Winter's journey, she learns from fellow passengers such as Aaju Peter and Bernadette Dean, who teach her about Inuit society (both past and present). She bonds with Nathan Rogers, son of the late Canadian icon Stan Rogers, who died in a plane crash when Nathan was just a young boy. Nathan's quest is to take the route his father never traveled, expect in his beloved song "The Northwest Passage," which he performs both as anthem and lament at sea. And she guides readers through her own personal odyssey, emigrating from England to Canada as a child and discovering both what was lot and what was gained as a result of that journey.
"Starred Review. Literate, luminous...With the eye of a poet and the stamina of an Amundsen, Winter proves a delightful guide into unexplored realms. Worthy of shelving alongside Barry Lopez's Arctic Dreams." - Kirkus
"Compulsively readable… it both heightens life and plumbs its deepest mysteries, laying bare the beauty of both the world and the soul." —Globe and Mail
"Ultimately, the journey that Kathleen Winter takes on a last-minute whim is transformative. Her precise and vivid prose allows the reader to share in that transformation." - Quill and Quire
"…[G]raceful, poetic, and shimmering prose…" - The Toronto Star
This information about Boundless was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kathleen Winter's first collection of short stories, boYs, was the winner of both the Winterset Award and the Metcalf-Rooke Award. Published in Canada in 2010, Annabel (her first novel), was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the 2010 Governor General's Awards.
Winter was born in the industrial northeast of England. She began her career as a script writer for Sesame Street before becoming a columnist for The Telegram in St. John's. A long-time resident of St. John's, Newfoundland, she now lives in Montreal with her husband and daughters.
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