Flight of the Goose by Lesley Thomas

Flight of the Goose by Lesley Thomas

Flight of the Goose: A Story of the Far North is an award-winning novel about shamanism vs. science, corporate greed vs. deep ecology and star-crossed love. It takes place in a remote village and the wilds of the Alaskan Arctic.

Author Lesley Thomas grew up there in a multicultural family blending ancient and new traditions. Her study of the effects of oil spills on arctic salt marsh came into play in Flight of the Goose. She also wove in her substantial knowledge of mythology, Indigenous societies, subsistence skills and cross-cultural relations. The novel is endorsed by Native Alaskan elders, top anthropologists, scientists and literary critics as well as shamanic practitioners such as Sandra Ingerman. It is studied at schools and universities world-wide and won first place in several literary contests.

It was a time when much was hidden, before outsiders came on bended knee to learn from the elders. Outsiders came, but it was not to learn from us; it was to change us. There was a war and a university, an oil company and a small village, all run by men. There was a young man who hunted geese to feed his family and another who studied geese to save them. And there was a young woman who flew into the world of spirits to save herself...So relates Kayuqtuq Ugungoraseok, the red fox. An orphan traumatized by her past, she seeks respect in her traditional Inupiat village through the outlawed path of shamanism. Her plan leads to tragedy when she interferes with scientist Leif Trygvesen, who has come to research the effects of oil spills on salt marshes - and evade the draft. Told from both Kayuqtuq's and Leif's perspectives, Flight of the Goose is a tale of cultural conflict, spiritual awakening, redemption and love in a time when things were - to use the phrase of an old arctic shaman - no longer familiar.

Lesley Thomas grew up in rural communities in the Alaskan Arctic. She also was raised on on a fishing boat in Southeast Alaska and on a small farm in the Pacific Northwest. Her families of birth and of intermarriage branch from cultures all over the Earth and include hunters and gatherers, scientists and healers. Her interest in shamanism, storytelling and birds began early.

To write Flight of the Goose, she also used her background in ecology and field research on the effects of oil spills on arctic salt marsh.

Thomas has taught at colleges and published poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Although she now lives in Seattle, she returns often to the Far North to visit her ever-growing family and the beautiful land.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780967884219
ISBN 10	0967884217
Title	Flight of the Goose
Author	Lesley Thomas
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Far Eastern Press
Year published	2010-02-08
Number of pages	434
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.