The year is 1900 in gold-prospecting Alaska. Essie, a Midwestern farm girl fleeing from a stormy marriage, joins up with prospectors bound for Nome, where the golden sands teem with dreamers, schemers, and high rollers. When Leonard, Essie's stubborn and volatile husband, travels north, astonishing scenes of pursuit, sacrifice, and crucial decision rise to a conclusion that is both surprising and inevitable. Powerfully evoking a past world and the variable territory of the heart, this novel establishes Peter C. Brown as a consummate storyteller. Reading group guide included.

About the Author
Peter C. Brown's grandfather was a prospector, the engineer for a gold-mining company in Nome, Alaska. Brown is a retired business consultant, and he and his wife live in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Reviews
"An eloquent, memorable first novel, with high-powered characters whose prickly exteriors, created out of a need to survive, hide affectingly yearning and haunted souls." -- Publishers Weekly
"A gripping story about the search for gold, for love, for the discovery of honor and the mysteries of the human heart." -- Paulette Jiles, author of Enemy Women



Book Information
ISBN 9780393329759
Author Peter C. Brown
Format Paperback
Page Count 430
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 530g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 140mm * 28mm