THE SEAL WIFE

During the World War I years, a man named Bigelow is stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, to observe weather phenomena for the government--air currents, barometric changes, etc. Isolated and lonely, he begins an affair with an Aleut woman who never speaks, and with whom he becomes obsessed. Suddenly, she disappears, devastating him--but Bigelow eventually recovers and makes a new life for himself. Then the Aleut woman returns. A New York Times Notable Book for 2002.