Book Review: Laura Kasischke Minds Of Winter

In 1845 the British naval explorer John Franklin embarked on a journey through the Arctic to map the Northwest Passage. Franklin and his men never returned. His chronometer did, however, disguised as a carriage clock. Who removed it from the ship, and why is unknown. Ed O’Loughlin uses this doomed Victorian expedition and horological mystery as the starting point for his third novel, Minds of Winter. In the present, Fay Morgan and Nelson Nilsson have both come to Inuvik looking for answers. Fay, is researching her grandfather’s history; Nelson’s brother has gone missing. In this multi-narrator novel, O’Loughlin alternates between the past and the present, and links together numerous tales of exploration through narratives, letters, statements and stories-within-stories. This is a novel about mysteries and mutiny, scientists, spirit mediums and spies – and endless, endless ice. A riveting book and an astonishing achievement.