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The Voyage of the Narwhal
Andrea Barrett. W W Norton & Co: 1999 (paperback). ISBN: 0393319504. 399 pages.
Guide not available
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You've got to admit it--it's not every expedition novel whose protagonist is a
nineteenth-century explorer/naturalist named Erasmus Darwin Wells. An exploration that Erasmus was a part of as a young
man has ended badly, so the middle-aged Erasmus has settled down to a life of cataloguing animals, plants, and fossils.
His second chance to explore the Arctic comes when Zeke, his sister's charming young lover, gets the backing to finance
the voyage of the Narwhal. Their heroic mission: to discover what's become of a British Navy expedition mysteriously lost
years ago. Zeke longs for the explorer's glory, Erasmus yearns for the naturalist's knowledge, and conflicts escalate as
the Narwhal crew encounters the Esquimaux (that's Eskimo to you and me), who may or may not know something about the
missing ship. One of the many elements that keeps you reading way past your bedtime is the insertion of journal entries
and letters from other members of the crew with their own agenda and by the women left behind to do a different kind of
exploration.
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