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Fiction Literary

Icefields

by (author) Thomas Wharton

Publisher
NeWest Press
Initial publish date
Jan 1995
Category
Literary, General
  • Audio cassette

    ISBN
    9780864922380
    Publish Date
    Apr 1998
    List Price
    $16.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780920897874
    Publish Date
    May 1995
    List Price
    $18.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781897126530
    Publish Date
    Jan 1995
    List Price
    $11.99

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Description

On an expedition in the Canadian Rockies at the end of the nineteenth century, Dr Edward Byrne slips and falls almost 60 feet into a crevasse on the Arcturus Glacier. While trapped, hanging upside down and wary that the slightest movement could send him plunging deeper into the abyss, Byrne notices a mysterious winged figure embedded in the ice wall. The vision shakes his sanity, and after his recovery continues to haunt him until he abandons his fiancee and his medical practice in England and returns to a lonely vigil in a shack near the spot on the ice where he almost lost his life. His spirit trapped, he seeks the truth by questioning closely the strange characters that cross his path and meticulously recording the advance and decline of the myths and legends of an early settlement and is transformed by the coming of the railroad into a thriving tourist centre - with an impact as far away as the battlefields for the First World War.

About the author

Thomas Wharton was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, an agriculture and oil city located near the BC border. His father, a utilities manager, was transferred to Jasper when Wharton was a teen. The years Wharton spent exploring the mountains and glaciers around Jasper have had a lasting impact on his literary output; references to the Rocky Mountains weave in and out of the books he has written, most notably Icefields (NeWest Press, 1995) and The Logogryph. A life-long love of maps, history, art, and poetry equally informs his work. His latest adult novel is Every Blade of Grass. He is also the author of a fantasy trilogy, The Perilous Realm for younger readers. The Shadow of Malabron, The Fathomless Fire, and The Tree Story are available from Doubleda Canada.

Thomas Wharton's profile page

User Reviews

Rocky Mountain lovers...

I picked this up at a library book sale in order to try something different and more local. I have never been to Jasper but I have been to the Rockies and thoroughly enjoyed Wharton's descriptions of the ice and rock. While it wasn't the most riveting story, the description of the natural wonders that I dearly love kept me reading.

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