Based on an Athabaskan legend tells the story of two old women left behind one starving winter before the Europeans came. I particularly like how Wallis explains that often we never what greatness lies within each of us because we haven't been in the right circumstances to draw it out. ( )

This book is a small and quick read and two very determined older women who brave the elements and use their age and wisdom to make it despite being left behind by the tribe due to their age. ( )

Based on a Native American (or, as the Canadians say, First Nation people) story from the time when the tribes were nomadic. The tribe was starving, and could not support the two old women any more. So they are left stranded, with a tent and a hatchet and the clothes on their backs. The two women decide not to give up, but to do what they must. They set snares, and catch a rabbit that lasts them a long time, mostly as soup. They walk to a place one of them remembers from long, long ago. They depend on one another, and survive, against expectation. It is a small book, simply and well told. It has the feel of the long version of a story often retold. Recommended. ( )

In this well-told tale of two tribewomen who are in their old age we see what determination can do. Having earned the respect of their tribe these two women have been content to let others do for them over the years. But their age hinders the tribespeople's movements and they are facing a brutal winter. The chief makes the decision to turn these two out into the harshness of the bleak Alaskan Yukon to live or die.

Together these two women forge a bond of friendship and recall the skills of their younger days, conquering the pain of unused muscles and fear of the unknown to survive even the harshest of conditions. The story comes full circle when they again meet up with their tribe and the chief who once turned them out now finds he and his people have need of their wisdom.

A wonderful book for just about everyone. Full of hope and determination. ( )

Historical tale of survival. Very good. ( )