1993; "Winner 1993 Western States Book Award"; "An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival"; Epicenter Press publishers, Fairbanks, Alaska; smaller hardbound in black boards with gilt stamp lettering along spine; very good condition with unmarked pages; dust jacket very good.
 
Description -
Based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River Valley in Alaska, this is the suspenseful, shocking, ultimately inspirational tale of two old women abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine.

Though these women have been known to complain more than contribute, they now must either survive on their own or die trying. In simple but vivid detail, Velma Wallis depicts a landscape and way of life that are at once merciless and starkly beautiful. In her old women, she has created two heroines of steely determination whose story of betrayal, friendship, community and forgiveness "speaks straight to the heart with clarity, sweetness and wisdom" (Ursula K. Le Guin).