Alaska Native Literature Award Winner

The tragic yet triumphant story of a young mother's winter journey to the Bering Sea coast with her two young children. This powerful narrative will haunt readers.

Advanced in pregnancy and now newly widowed, Qutuuq sets out with her two children, leaving their camp and following a frozen river to the coast. Homebound, one step at a time, through the subzero wilderness.

This is a chilling, true story dating from 1892. It tells of battles against killing cold, starvation, and exhaustion. It's the story of a haunting decision made in the throes of desperation. And ultimately it's a story of survival and triumph amid unspeakable sorrow.

More than a century later, Qutuuq's story, which has descended through her Inupiat Eskimo family as oral history, is retold in print by her great-granddaughter.

About the Author
Loretta Outwater Cox is an Inupiaq woman, born in Nome, Alaska, and raised in various villages around the Seward Peninsula. She holds a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in education administration. Loretta taught school in western Alaska for twenty-three years. She and her husband, Skip, have three children and three grandchildren.

Reviews
"The Winter Walk is a survival story set in 1892 near the Norton Sound. Qutuuq, an Inupiaq mother, guides her two children to safety after her husband dies at winter camp. The author's mother Keenaq (Ruth Savok Outwater) told Loretta the story, in spite its darkness, and urged her to write about it. The book is published as an adult memoir; however, it would be appropriate for high school students because of its wealth of information about Inupiaq ways... Beautifully told." * Alaska Native Knowledge Network *


Awards
Winner of Alaska Indigenous Literature Award 2004.



Book Information
ISBN 9780882405742
Author Loretta Outwater Cox
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Alaska Northwest Books
Publisher Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 244g