Widely acclaimed throughout the U.S. and Canada, the debut novel from Audrey Schulman reveals a talent as dazzling as the arctic landscape she so brilliantly evokes.
Beryl is a nature photographer on an expedition to photograph polar bears up close from inside a small iron cage. She has never photographed animals larger than deer before and has usually worked in zoos, not in the wild. Now she is challenging herself to face the world’s largest land carnivore in the bone aching cold of an unforgiving terrain.
Despite the expedition’s state-of-the-art equipment, it is not long before things begin to go disastrously wrong. Soon the cold –unrelenting and pervasive– invades Beryl’s world. Until all that remains between her and safety is the white, uncompromising vastness of the windswept tundra… and the polar bears that inhabit it. THE CAGE is an unparalleled literary adventure– the story of shy and socially awkward photographer Beryl Findham, and her search for self in the most desolate corner of the Earth, among the most dangerous creatures that live.
TRANSLATED INTO 11 LANGUAGES
BEST-SELLER IN CANADA
ONE OF THE 12 NOVELS SELECTED BY THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION AS A NOTABLE NOVEL OF 1994
"Quirky and thoughtful… Schulman renders the strange beauties of a world that draws on resources scarcely known to us… She shapes her story as tightly as the cage Beryl takes her pictures from." - The New York Times
"Fine character writing… a genuine page-turner with literary content." - Boston Globe
"Part survival story, part coming-of-age tale, this narrative mixes rich characterization with detailed observation of the natural world and crisply described action, and the effect is startling and memorable… Schulman artfully blends suspense with details of chilling authenticity… People will talk about this book." - Publishers Weekly
"Wonderfully evocative… An enthralling book, relentlessly plotted and gracefully written." - New York Newsday
"Horrific... Schulman’s prose is cool and intelligent, her imagery arresting… It was days after I finished the book before I warmed up." - Books In Canada
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"Lyrical… Suspenseful… Schulman’s heroine is a true original transformed emotionally and physically by experiences marvelously imagined and compellingly described." - Los Angeles Times
"Unsettling… Guaranteed to chill" - Entertainment Weekly
"Fascinating… Totally different… A great adventure story… Audrey Schulman does a beautiful job of balancing adventure, suspense and self-discovery in a book that is chilling in every sense of the word." - Michele Ross, book critic, CNN
"A powerful first novel that demands comparison with the best of contemporary fiction. THE CAGE is a brilliant piece of literary virtuosity, driven by spare, taut prose and a sharp knowing eye." - Toronto Globe and Mail
"Mesmerizing… compact, richly imagined, compelling to the last page… symbol-studded and rich in metaphor, an allegorical tale of spiritual as well as physical survival." - Philadelphia Inquirer
"A gripping tale of pride and endurance and the wreckage of human miscalculation… Taut, intelligent and quietly lyrical, Schulman’s riveting tale… is a fictional coup of the first order." - London (Ont.) Free Press