Rating: 7.9/10.
A fairly short novella about two old women of the Gwich’in tribe in Northern Alaska, following a folklore tale where the two old women are seen as complaining and the chief decides to leave them behind. The two women are 75 and 80 years old, and rather than sit down and die, they decide to use their decades-old skills to hunt and trap and survive the winter, and go to a place from many decades ago where they remembered the salmon was plentiful. They not only survived but thrived and accumulated a good stock of salmon. The tribe that previously abandoned them is half-starving and goes looking for the two women, finding that those who they thought were weak and useless were actually stronger than expected. The two groups eventually reconcile and vow to never leave behind their elders again.
The story is fairly short and straightforward, and can be finished in one sitting, yet the author’s native and trapping experience is reflected in the writing – there are many accurate details of native hunting and trapping methods (although the extent of physical recovery by the two elderly women is probably exaggerated).
