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Two Words for Snow
Richard Sanger
Drama / Canadian
96 pages • 6 x 9"
ISBN 0-88995-310-4 paper • CDN 12.95 • USA 9.95
Two Words for Snow is the story of a man who, forced to choose between two worlds,
betrays a woman, and her tribe, for a leader who then betrays him. Despite his role on
explorer Robert Edwin Peary's North Pole expeditions, Matthew Henson (1870–1955),
has resigned himself to the shadows of history. A young man, Robert Peary Jr., wants
to ensure his late father's name stands as the discoverer of the Pole. In 1935, these
two men meet in the Eskimo Room of the American Museum of Natural History, home
to the Inuit artifacts that Peary collected and the gruesome secret that haunts Henson.
Inspired by historical fact, Two Words for Snow uses a chance fictional encounter
to imagine the repercussions Peary's quest had on the psyches of its protagonists—and to tell a story of colliding cultures, ambition and betrayal.
Reviews
"Two Words for Snow takes that single, imagined encounter and explodes it into a world—two or three worlds, really—of lies, death, betrayal and guilt. What emerges from that
explosion is a smart, powerful and deeply moving examination of colonialism at home and
abroad, and the damage it does to colonized and colonizer alike."
–Globe & Mail
"Deeply affecting. A tale of friendship, love, betrayal and so much more."
–Toronto Sun |
