Black Woods, Blue Sky: A Novel

Written by Eowyn Ivey

Narrated by Rebecca Lowman

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Snow Child returns to the mythical landscapes of Alaska with an unforgettable dark fairy tale that asks the question: Can love save us from ourselves?

“No one writes like Eowyn Ivey.”—Geraldine Brooks
“You will find yourself in places you have never been.”—Louise Erdrich
“Ivey is an enthralling storyteller.”—The New York Times Book Review

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Birdie’s keeping it together; of course she is. So she’s a little hungover, sometimes, and she has to bring her daughter, Emaleen, to her job waiting tables at an Alaskan roadside lodge, but she’s getting by as a single mother in a tough town. Still, Birdie can remember happier times from her youth, when she was free in the wilds of nature.

Arthur Neilsen, a soft-spoken and scarred recluse who appears in town only at the change of seasons, brings Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods. Most people avoid him, but to Birdie, he represents everything she’s ever longed for. She finds herself falling for Arthur and the land he knows so well.

Against the warnings of those who care about them, Birdie and Emaleen move to his isolated cabin in the mountains, on the far side of the Wolverine River.

It’s just the three of them in the vast black woods, far from roads, telephones, electricity, and outside contact, but Birdie believes she has come prepared. At first, it’s idyllic and she can picture a happily ever after: Together they catch salmon, pick berries, and climb mountains so tall it’s as if they could touch the bright blue sky. But soon Birdie discovers that Arthur is something much more mysterious and dangerous than she could have ever imagined, and that like the Alaska wilderness, a fairy tale can be as dark as it is beautiful.

Black Woods, Blue Sky is a novel with life-and-death stakes, about the love between a mother and daughter, and the allure of a wild life—about what we gain and what it might cost us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 4, 2025
• ISBN: 9798217064953

Eowyn Ivey

Eowyn Ivey is the author of The Snow Child, an international bestseller published in thirty countries, a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and winner of a British Book Award. Her second novel, To the Bright Edge of the World, was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award, and was a Washington Post Notable Book. She is a former bookseller and lives in Palmer, Alaska.

Reviews for Black Woods, Blue Sky

[roshreviews · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In a Nutshell: An poignant literary fiction set in Alaska. Haunting plot, flawed characters, atmospheric writing, intense emotions, slow pace, magical realism. Not a ‘Beauty & the Beast’ retelling as some sources claim. Much recommended but not to those who prefer likeable/perfect characters.

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Plot Preview:
Twenty-six-year-old Birdie is a single mother to six-year-old Emaleen. Her waitressing job in an Alaskan lodge helps them survive, and the lodge owner even allows Birdie to live with Emaleen in one of the cabins. But while Birdie loves her daughter, she still has a reckless side to her that makes her yearn for more wild adventures. When Arthur, a local recluse who barely speaks to anyone, brings Emaleen back to safety when she goes wandering into the woods one day, Birdie finds a new hero, and a new dream. Ignoring the advice of those around her, Birdie decides to move along with Emaleen into Arthur’s isolated cabin atop the mountains alongside the Wolverine river. With just the three of them living in a small and shabby wooden cabin with no indoor plumbing or electricity, things are tough, but Birdie is determined to make this new part of her life work.
The story comes to us in the third person perspective of Birdie, Emaleen, and Warren – Arthur’s father.



First things first. Merely having a pretty woman and a physically-unattractive man in a romantic relationship doesn’t make a story the retelling of ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ An NYT article states: “In an author’s note, Ivey cites “Beauty and the Beast” and “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” as inspirations.” My copy doesn’t have the author’s note, but even if I believe NYT’s report, “inspiration” doesn’t equate to “retelling”. It will be unfair to the book if readers pick it up expecting either of these fairy tales and then bash it for not being an accurate retelling. So please get that idea out of your head. This is NOT a retelling and bears only a minor point in common with both those fairy tales.

I have kept my review spoiler-free as usual. This book is best discovered by going in blind.


Bookish Yays:

[wvlibrarydude · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not really sure if I like this one as well as the other two novels by Ivey. The other two novels were historical fiction, word this one was set in modern day. Strong characters. Exploration of bonds of love, desires, relationships, and with the natural world around us. The ending had a twist on it that I wasn't expecting. I wonder if the author was going in that direction from the beginning or if it just came out that way.

Nilufer Ozmekik does a much better review.

[labfs39 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Birdie is a boozy, cigarette-smoking, flirtatious waitress at a bar in an Alaskan roadside bar, who dreams of a better life in the mountains.

Emaleen is her six-year daughter. Every other chapter is from Emaleen's perspective.

Arthur is a shaggy, eccentric loner who becomes infatuated with Birdie.

When Birdie decides to move in with Arthur in his remote cabin, we see the trainwreck coming.

In Black Woods, Blue Sky, Ivey returns to the concept that made her first novel, The Snow Child, so appealing: take a legend or myth and place it in a contemporary Alaskan setting. I loved the Snow Child, and I found this book compelling in its own way. The plot is not a surprise, although it is suspenseful; it's the characters and how deeply Ivey makes me feel for them that draws me to her books. An Alaskan herself, Ivey writes of the people and the landscape with warmth and a compassion for human failings and respect for the unflinching ways of nature. The aching, enduring love of parents for their unusual adopted children and the powerful love that can develop between two very dissimilar people are two of the themes that run through Ivey's works.

Recommended for readers open to reinterpretations of myths and folk tales.

[castlelass · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked up Black Woods, Blue Sky after enjoying two earlier books by this author – To the Bright Edge of the World and The Snow Child. Set in Alaska, this story follows young irresponsible mother, Birdie, and her six-year-old daughter, Emaleen. They meet a reclusive and mysterious man of the woods. After moving to a remote cabin in the Alaskan wilderness, their new life becomes progressively more precarious.

As with Ivey’s past two novels, this one contains magical realism and reads like a fable. It differs in tone. The previous two are lighter and more optimistic. This book is dark and tragic. The voice of the child is realistic but also demonstrates the drawbacks of writing from a small child’s perspective. Perhaps my expectations were too high based on my prior experiences, but this book feels average in comparison.

[whitewavedarling · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Black Woods, Blue Sky is a novel of magic, empathy, and curiosity--in fact, each of Ivey's characters here brim with such empathy and curiosity that, even in their most flawed or dangerous moments, it's impossible for a reader not to sympathize with them and home for good. With those characters carrying the story, and with Ivey's gorgeous writing of the Alaskan wilderness and a way of life that's foreign to most of us, the novel paints a world that feels as magical as it is real, and when the magic does come in...well, that feels very real as a result.

I suspected from the beginning that this work might break my heart open, and it did, but Ivey's storytelling is such that I can only smile at the experience through the tears, and be left in wonder at her storytelling and the way this book unfolds.

Absolutely recommended, whether you come for the writing, the magical realism, or the contemporary fairy tale or the Alaskan wilderness or anything else that might draw you in. This is a wonderous book.

[japaul22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This new novel by one of my favorite modern authors was a VERY mixed bag for me. Ivey is known for weaving a fairy tale element into her works, but this one was a bit too gritty and dark for me.

Like all of Ivey's novels, this is set in remote Alaska. Birdie is a young woman with a 6 year old daughter who is craving something different than her life waitressing at a lodge and barely making ends meet. She meets Arthur, a mysterious man with a prominent scar and odd way of speaking only in the present. Arthur lives in an even more remote part of Alaska, and Birdie and her daughter Emmaleen decide to join him there. The reader already understands that things are not quite right with Arthur, and Emmaleen and then Birdie, start to understand as well. Things do not end well.

The plot seemed to be loosely related to a "Jungle Book" type story, with a human being raised by an animal, and a "Beauty and the Beast" idea. But Arthurs's lifestyle (if I can call it such?) was just so gruesome to me, I couldn't enjoy the book. There is a final section, also, where Emmaleen returns to Alaska as an adult that I thought really could have made the book work for me, but then the way it went was disappointing, I thought.

Eowyn Ivey's writing still managed to pull me in, despite my distaste for the plot. Her nature writing of Alaska is beautiful, which also helped. But I was disappointed in this book.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

“Birdie, Arthur. Mother. Bear.”

This is a hard book to review for me. Overall, I loved the writing, the settings, the strange character of Arthur, and the bear. I almost felt like I was actually in Alaska as the story progressed!

But... Birdie may well be the worst mother I've ever read about in a book. Her character is almost a caricature of what a terrible mother would be. Ridiculously terrible decisions after terrible decisions. Each one pulling me out of the story and ruining what would otherwise have been a really good read for me. I know there are people in the world like that, but I just couldn't believe that her character would be so dumb and so out of touch about the safety of her daughter. Really hard to believe.

[sparemethecensor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Just as beautifully written as The Snow Child, her debut novel that I loved, but the plot is a lot weaker.

[tangledthread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An Alaskan version of Beauty and the Beast with the Alaskan wilderness providing the back drop for the story.

[hccpsk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In a small Alaska town, Birdie is doing her best to raise her young daughter, but she always dreamed of something different in her life. Arthur offers her everything she wants — a chance to live in the wilderness and raise Emaleen in nature, but it may be more than she bargained for. Eowyn Ivey is a master of Alaskan magical realism, and Black Woods Blue Sky delivers a beautiful, fantastical, and painful story of wilderness, love, and survival.

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I this eGalley from NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: I picked this up for review because I love fairy tale retellings and this is supposed to be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This was okay but not great. The story moves really slow, is very predictable, and flat-out sad. I didn't love any of the characters; they were all selfish in their own ways. The main redeeming quality of this story is the beautiful outdoor setting and descriptions. It made me yearn to go and visit the Alaskan wilderness. I almost stopped reading this about 25% of the way in, but decided to persevere because of the glowing reviews...I should have stopped reading it...nothing improved from that point on.

Birdie is a young single mom doing her best to raise her daughter Emaleen in a small town in Alaska. One day, a loner of a man, Arthur, starts coming to have tea in the cafe Birdie serves at. The two are strangely drawn to each other. Birdie decides that if her and Emaleen could just go and live a life closer to the earth out in the wilderness with Arthur everything would be better for them. Sure, Arthur disappears a lot and has a huge secret but things are good, until they aren't.

This was very slow and very predictable. I also struggled a lot with the characters. Birdie was a bad mom. A lot of excuses are made for her but a lot of what she does is definitely in the child endangerment region if not flat-out neglect. I just could not like or sympathize with her. Arthur was also pretty unlikable to me. Yes, he had some weird stuff going on, but he should have known the dangers he was dragging Birdie and Emaleen in to.

I did enjoy the beautiful Alaskan setting and at times, the way Birdie and Emaleen try to eke out a living in the woods with Arthur was magical. However, the way the story went was incredibly predictable. I kept hoping for something different or more intriguing to happen. However, this whole book is just watching a preventable disaster slowly play out.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this has some beautiful writing and description and I loved the setting. However, the plot was slow and predictable, and the characters were unlikable and hard for me to engage with. This was not the book for me. I don't plan on picked up future books by Ivey.