The Cage - Hardcover

Schulman, Audrey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0792720784 ISBN 13: 9780792720782

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 1994

Synopsis

ALA Notable Book. The story of a nature photographer on an otherwise all-male documentary expedition to the Canadian tundra. From within a small iron cage, this small, often fearful woman is challenging herself to face the planet's largest land carnivores in the bone-aching cold of an unforgiving terrain. Before long, disaster strikes, and she must draw on her every strength in order to survive. "This riveting, assured first novel is part survival story, part coming-of-age tale. Some of Schulman's scenes are truly terrifying. People will talk about this book."--Publishers Weekly. A QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB SELECTION.

About this title

About the Author

When Audrey Schulman is not traveling the globe in search of adventure, she designs software. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and graduated from Barnard with a degree in pyschology. Born in Montreal, she now lives in Boston with a small land carnivore, her cat. The Cage is her first novel.

From Kirkus Reviews

This harrowing wilderness adventure story, a first novel, features a refreshingly unlikely heroine: five-foot-one photographer Beryl, who must venture deep into the Canadian Arctic, fend off dozens of the world's largest land carnivores, and survive. The only daughter of elderly, over-protective Bostonians, Beryl lands the job of her dreams when Natural Photography magazine hires her to photograph the polar bears of Canada ``naturally''- -without a telescopic lens, separated from certain death only by the bars of a tiny iron cage set in the snow. Hired not for her talent or experience, but because she's the only applicant small enough to fit inside the cage, Beryl methodically prepares for her assignment by locking herself in the bedroom closet for hours each day. By the time she joins her fellow expedition members--David, a wise-cracking video cameraman who hates the cold; Butler, a macho nature writer; and Jean-Claude, their quiet young guide--Beryl believes she's quite ready to face the Far North's danger and sensory deprivation. In reality, she has no idea what's in store for her. In Churchill, where the bears gather every autumn to hunt on the frozen Hudson Bay, she barely survives her first hair- raising encounter with a bear while accompanying a policewoman on all-night patrol. The stakes increase as the team boards its state- of-the-art Arctic Traveler bus and ventures 40 miles into the wilderness, where Beryl climbs into her cage and takes pictures as hungry bears try to devour her. Facing her deepest fears, Beryl experiences spiritual as well as professional fulfillment, but her sessions are cut short when the ten-foot monsters chew the bus's fuel tanks to shreds, forcing its passengers to hike unprotected across the tundra in a desperate bid for warmth and shelter. Dramatically understated, yet offering several unforgettably vivid descriptions of wildlife encounters, this unusual novel offers high-caliber literary escapism. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0792720784
• ISBN 13: 9780792720782
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 247