cover image Edges of the Earth: A Man, a Woman, a Child in the Alaskan Wilderness

Edges of the Earth: A Man, a Woman, a Child in the Alaskan Wilderness

Richard Leo. Henry Holt & Company, $19.95 (303pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-1575-1

In 1981 Leo, weary of New York City, persuaded his girlfriend to escape with him into the Alaskan wilderness. He built a homestead on a ridge near Mount McKinley, a spot so remote there are no people nor roads for 100 square miles; building supplies had to be dropped by helicopter. Leo tells the story of his odyssey to this beautiful land: how he learned to be self-sufficient, construct a log house, manage a team of sled dogs. He also describes the deterioration of his relationship wtih Melissa, who made a valiant effort to adjust but was eventually defeated by the isolation. When she departed, soon after the birth of their son, Janus, whom she left behind, she shattered his dream of living as a family in the wilderness. Today the author spends much of the year in the woods with his son. Leo's absorbing story is filled with adventure as well as emotion. (Oct.)