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| Minds of Winter |
In
1845, the Erebus, an Arctic exploration vessel captained by Sir John Franklin
was lost to the harsh conditions of the North. Neither man nor artifact was
ever recovered from this expedition and there has been much speculation about
what happened to the ship and its crew. However, historians were stunned by the
2009 discovery of an Arnold Chronometer that was known to be on board the Erebus
for this Arctic exploration. The chronometer mysteriously surfaced in London disguised
as a carriage clock.
Such
is the premise for the novel, Minds of Winter, by Ed O’Loughlin, who brings
us to the North through two modern day characters, Nelson and Fay, each on
their own northern expedition of sorts. Nelson is searching for his brother,
who has mysteriously committed suicide, but has left extensive research and
notes on the various expeditions that set out to find answers to Franklin’s end.
Fay comes to Inuvik to trace the life of her grandfather, who has some
secretive ties to Northern exploration history.
The
novel switches back and forth between Fay and Nelson’s research and the many
expeditions to find the Northwest Passage. Most of the expedition tales are
written from the perspective of someone who was on the voyage, which makes it
seem more vividly real. I found myself checking from time to time to see if any
of the historical characters did in fact live- and many of them did!
In
this in depth read, O’Loughlin has conducted a thorough research on the history
of these Arctic expeditions and weaves a tale that effectively puts the reader
on the ice, experiencing the loss of sanity that must have regularly occurred
on these journeys that were so far from civilization in such harsh conditions. The
story’s end comes quickly and leaves the reader with a sense of mystery and a
sense of wonder at what just happened.
