Winter Walk: A Century-Old Survival Story from the Arctic

Alaska Native Literature Award Winner

The tragic yet triumphant story of a young mother’s winter journey to the Bering Sea coast with her two young children. This powerful narrative will haunt readers.

Advanced in pregnancy and now newly widowed, Qutuuq sets out with her two children, leaving their camp and following a frozen river to the coast. Homebound, one step at a time, through the subzero wilderness.

This is a chilling, true story dating from 1892. It tells of battles against killing cold, starvation, and exhaustion. It’s the story of a haunting decision made in the throes of desperation. And ultimately it’s a story of survival and triumph amid unspeakable sorrow.

More than a century later, Qutuuq’s story, which has descended through her Inupiat Eskimo family as oral history, is retold in print by her great-granddaughter.