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A Murder in Arctic Alaska
by Rebecca Wright Stevens
The stunning true story of a double homicide in the vibrant native Alaskan Iñupiat community at the arctic edge of the United States—written by the public defender at its center.
Rebecca Wright is a defense attorney living in the Lower 48 when she suddenly finds herself a widow and an empty nester. In need of a radical change, she accepts a public defender position in Utqiagvik on Alaska's North Slope, an oil-rich area the size of Wyoming where the Iñupiat community holds great cultural, political, and economic power. Though she'll always be a tanik—an outsider—she works hard to gain the trust and friendship of the folks who call this singular place home.
When two well-known sisters, Bernice and Wanda Ipalook, are found murdered, Wright is tasked with representing Amos Lane, a drifter on the short-list of murder suspects. Criminal charges are looming. But this is summer in northern Alaska, the season of the midnight sun, when twenty-four-hour sunlight makes it difficult for witnesses to confirm the time—or even the day—they last saw the sisters, Amos, or anyone else. Wright must navigate an unreliable client, a prosecution willing to entrap her to get a conviction, a budding romance, and a community that believes Amos might deserve a different form of justice from what the tanik legal system can provide.
Weaving a detailed portrait of Utqiagvik alongside Wright's complex self-portrait of an outsider in an isolated community, Sisters of the Midnight Sun is a riveting true account that brings to vivid life a land at the edge of the habitable world.
"The heady mix of true crime and clashing cultures makes for a thrilling, thought-provoking read ... [Stevens's] talents as a writer shine through in scene after memorable scene that evoke Scandinavian noir. Potent, morally complex storytelling that gets under the skin." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[A]n engrossing blend of memoir, travelogue, and courtroom drama about a double murder in the wilds of Alaska ... The account culminates with courtroom fireworks, but it works equally well as a more modest fish out of water narrative. Readers will be rapt." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
This is a haunting, expertly crafted reminder that the law is only as strong as the people who uphold it." —Shelf Awareness
"Sisters of the Midnight Sun is a marvelous offering to true crime fans everywhere, set in a complex native Alaskan community, with a compelling protagonist in Rebecca Wright Stevens, a Public Defender obsessed with justice for two sisters murdered during the long months of endless sun." —James Dalessandro, author of 1906: A Novel and Citizen Jane
"We see many books involving interesting crimes and trials, but Sisters of the Midnight Sun stands by itself. Ms. Wright Stevens is an experienced public defender who finds herself representing a man for murder in an Alaskan Inupiat community. She develops ethical issues when she comes to doubt her client's innocence. As an outsider, Ms. Wright Stevens skillfully and with great sensitivity explores the character of the community and how its culture and traditions might affect her perception and handling of the case. The ending is a satisfying conclusion to this compelling and beautifuly told story." —Harry MacLean, author of Starkweather
This information about Sisters of the Midnight Sun was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rebecca Wright Stevens is a retired public defender with a double major in English and Spanish from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and a Juris Doctor degree from Memphis State.
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