Most of what we read about the Arctic comes in the form of news articles, foreign policy statements, speeches, and scientific reports. Any books are generally historical recounts of expeditions. However, a novel about the Arctic called Rankin Inlet, by Mara Feeney, has just been published. Feeney became interested in the Arctic after spending a summer there in college, and she eventually learned to speak the language. She moved to the Arctic to work for the government of the Northwest Territories and has worked there for much of the past 30 years, giving her a unique insight into Inuit culture as an outsider.
The book, which is set in the Inuit town of Rankin Inlet on the western shores of the Hudson Bay, concentrates on the cultural changes the indigenous people have experienced over the past couple of decades, from the arrival of telephones to the creation of the province of Nunavat. It might be of interest to people keen on gaining familiarity with the Inuit, who are often forgotten in the Arctic disputes that play out between nation states.
Rankin Inlet is available on Amazon. There’s also a short one-minute trailer for the book, which consists of Feeney talking about how and why she became interested in the Arctic, here.
