'Fire And Ice': Disaster And Redemption In A Remote Arctic Village

Places I Remember with Lea Lane

Deeanne Burch is a deceptively gentle woman, but super strong when she needs to be. In her travel memoir, Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle she recounts life in a remote Inuit village. She tells it like it is -- and it gets scary. But she prevails.
We begin with her comfortable early life in Canada centering on Toronto and the lake nearby, and memories of her storybook honeymoon in Europe with Tiger, her new husband who is doing a study of an isolated fishing village on an island in northern Alaska.
Deeanne talks of the primitive setting, customs, socialization, and challenging chores like drying fish and cutting blubber. And she has trouble eating foods like raw seal liver.
There are moments of beauty, but a disastrous ice camping excursion is followed by an even more devastating experience a few days later with an oil lantern -- which results in a frightening outcome, and having to leave.
She and Tiger eventually return to finish the study, but both have changed, and learned. Deanne's story brings up questions about society, resilience and reality. And she ends our conversation with an interesting memory.
_____
Deanne Burch writes children's books and is a photographer. Visit www.Deanneburch.com, or follow her on Facebook at @DeanneBurchAuthor. Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle is available from Amazon.com .
_____
Podcast host Lea Lane blogs at forbes.com, has traveled to over 100 countries, written nine books, including Places I Remember, and contributed to guidebooks. She's @lealane on Twitter; PlacesIRememberLeaLane on Insta; on Facebook, it's Places I Remember with Lea Lane. Website: placesirememberlealane.com. Please follow, rate and review this weekly travel podcast!