The Edge of the Earth

The book jacket synopsis hints at danger in a remote location, not just from the elements but an unexpected presence hiding in the wilderness. But this is so much more than a thriller based on isolation and the fear of the unknown.

Trudy is a highly educated woman, able to argue philosophy (Kant, anyone?) or play a Mozart sonata. Everyone expects she’ll marry her childhood friend, Ernst, and settle down to an upper-middle class life in Milwaukee. But then she meets Ernst’s cousin, Oskar, and everything changes. Oskar is a dreamer with training as an engineer. He’s intent on inventing the next BIG thing and Trudy is caught up in his dreams. He takes a position as an assistant lighthouse keeper on a remote promontory on the show more California coast, thinking he’ll have plenty of time to work on his invention. So, in fall of 1898 the newlyweds set out to make their own future. Things don’t go as they expected.

Trudy is a wonderful character. She’s intelligent, but also observant and not afraid of some hard work. When the lighthouse keeper’s wife suggests (demands?) that Trudy serve as a schoolteacher for the keeper’s children, she takes on the challenge. But the children have much to teach her as well.

Oskar, on the other hand, is a real piece of work. I guess I can understand how his enthusiasm and apparent drive to make a real impact on the world could have seduced her, but how could Trudy keep forgiving him and supporting him when his true colors became evident. I saw the climactic scene coming a mile off, though I still enjoyed reading it and seeing how Schwarz would craft this denouement.

The character that most surprised me was Euphemia (Mrs. Crawley). She was a rock, a pillar of strength, and when push came to shove, she supported and helped Trudy, her children, and Helen. She loved her brother, yes, but she recognized his failings and ultimately would not make excuses for him. Brava. show less

The edge of the earth for Trudy Swann is a lighthouse in Point Lucia, California, where she is domiciled with her new husband, Oskar, the Crawley family consisting of the chief keeper, his wife and four children, and Mrs. Crawley’s brother, Archie Johnson. She has married impetuously, without knowing much about who her husband truly is, but what might reveal itself in bits and pieces under normal circumstances, comes in a rush in such an isolated setting.

It is interesting to see Trudy develop her own interests and pursue her natural inclinations toward science. Schwarz does an excellent job of unveiling Trudy, and indeed all the other characters she invents for us. There is a “mermaid” (according to the children) on the island, show more living in the caves, and the mystery of this woman drives the plot. While I unraveled the main mystery well before the reveal, I still found the book riveting and was anxious to see how the truth would be exposed and how it would affect this group of lighthouse keepers. I think a secret is a hard thing to keep in such close quarters, and strangers do not remain such for long when the sounds of their living penetrate the walls between their homes.

The idea of living and caring for a lighthouse is one that has some very specific appeal for me. I cannot tell you why, but it seems it is a romantic notion that I have held onto from childhood, so there must have been a captivating lighthouse book in my youth somewhere. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and welcomed the break from heavier reading into something that was sheer pleasure first to last. show less

I remembered liking Schwarz's Drowning Ruth when I read it years ago, so I was looking forward to The Edge of the Earth. Sadly, I was greatly disappointed. Perhaps it's that my reading tastes have changed . . . but I really don't think this is a very good book. The characters are stereotypes and the plot is predictable; the writing itself is rather pedestrian. I had to really push myself to plod through it, since I was writing a review for Book Browse.

The novel begins and ends in the present day. An elderly woman, who apparently lived in the now-famous St. Lucia lighthouse years ago, comes to visit with her grandson. As the tourists travel up the path, she prides herself on how much more she knows than their guide, and she launches into show more the central story. It's 1898, and young Trudy Swann travels with her new husband, Oskar, from Milwaukee to the California coast, where he has taken a job as assistant to the lighthouse keeper. Trudy is suitably naive and, of course, has a talent for science--particularly marine life identification and drawing--that no one has appreciated. As for Oskar, what is meant to be a rebellious nature comes off rather as petulant and spoiled. The family who lives at the lighthouse is, of course, made up of cranky oddballs, but, of course, their crankiness is only there to cover deep, dark family secrets--secrets that really aren't all that surprising. The Crawleys have a hoard of children who are a bit wild but sweet and eager to learn. But they know things that Trudy does not, and they have a collection of strange 'gifts' left to them by 'the mermaid.'

I won't go into this any further and spoil (if possible) the 'discoveries' for other readers. At this point, I became very irritated with the book--not just because what happens is so irritating (it is), but because it was so predictable and so obviously aimed at tugging at the reader's emotions and making a 'big statement'. (Can you feel the hammer?)

Another reviewer mentioned that those who enjoy Oprah selections would probably like this book. I'm not one to automatically pan anything Oprah recommends, as some do; in fact, I've enjoyed many of her selections, including Drowning Ruth. But The Edge of the Earth certainly wasn't worth the time it took me to plod through it. show less

Trudy is very smart and has a bright future ahead of her. Her family can almost hear the wedding bells ringing for Trudy. There is just one problem. They did not expect Trudy to fall for a guy like Oskar.

Trudy and Oskar move away and accept a job at a lighthouse. Trudy becomes a teacher to the Crawley children. The other family that lives at the lighthouse. Whereas Oskar is fascinated by his inventions and electricity. Oskar finds a cave and a mysterious woman living in it. He finds her intriguing.

I enjoyed the book, but think it should have had a quicker pace, and feel it took much too long for Trudy to see her husband for what he was. It didn't feel true to the character.

I really enjoyed this book. What originally attracted me to it was the suggestion of a mystery, but in the end, there really were no unexpected twists, or mysteries being revealed. What it did have that kept and held my interest was the magical way the story was unfolded and told. I believe I will remember this book for a while. It left you with a good feeling, and makes you wonder what lies in your own personal history or heritage. The characters were really well developed and I really liked the fact that women were portrayed as strong and able to take care of themselves and not helpless creatures and still remain historically accurate for the time period written about. It also did not stray off into other directions which would have show more distracted from the real story. The author kept the story focused thus making it an enjoyable journey and not a frustrating one going in many different directions. In summary it was an enjoyable, quick and memorable read. show less

This is an historical novel, yet it is more about ordinary people than about any great historical event or person. The cover truly drew me in; I know that is the worst reason to either choose or reject a book but marketers know the power of a great cover,. This one screams of mystery and of a story to be told. While the book did not wholeheartedly live up to its cover it came darn close.

Trudy is young woman of the upper middle class in Wisconson at the end of the 19th century. Her parents have her life all planned out for her - whether she likes what they are planning or not! She feels there must be more out there than pleasant housewifery in a pleasant house in a pleasant neighborhood with a pleasant husband so when presented with two show more men she chooses the one that excites her, not the one that is....pleasant. Despite her parents' objections she runs off with Oskar to life a somewhat secluded life as a lightkeeper's wife. An assistant lightkeeper's wife actually. When she arrives she finds that it is not what she was envisioning and yet so very much more.

As she settles in to the life she has now chosen she becomes the teacher to the current lightkeeper's children. They in turn teach her about the sea and the creatures that appear from it. Trudy learns that life does not always turn out as one dreams and that people often disappoint. She also learns just how strong a woman she is.

I am not going to spill any secrets but know there are several that keep the reader engaged despite the fact that the book rolls along as if on a calm sea, not the raging and foggy ones that require the lighthouses. The story is a touch slow at first but picks up and really roars about midway through. Trudy is a fascinating character; neither all good nor bad but wanting more out of life than it was choosing to give her.

Ms. Swarz has a very magical way with mood; you will feel as if you are there with both families tending that lighthouse, exploring the island and its caves and shoreline. Definitely a book I was glad I read. show less

In 1898, a woman forsakes the comfort of home and family for a love that takes her to a remote lighthouse on the wild coast of California. What she finds at the edge of the earth, hidden between the sea and the fog, will change her life irrevocably.

Trudy, who can argue Kant over dinner and play a respectable portion of Mozart’s Serenade in G major, has been raised to marry her childhood friend and assume a life of bourgeois comfort in Milwaukee. She knows she should be pleased, but she’s restless instead, yearning for something she lacks even the vocabulary to articulate. When she falls in love with enigmatic and ambitious Oskar, she believes she’s found her escape from the banality of her preordained life.

But escape turns out show more to be more fraught than Trudy had imagined. Alienated from family and friends, the couple moves across the country to take a job at a lighthouse at Point Lucia, California—an unnervingly isolated outcropping, trapped between the ocean and hundreds of miles of inaccessible wilderness. Summary amazon.ca

Don't know which appealed to me more: finding out about life in a lighthouse or a young bride not only surviving there but discovering new (then) species of marine life. Women's rights are still far in the future as Trudy struggles to find purpose within the few and narrow roles allotted to her gender in America on the brink of a new century.

The Edge of the Earth might be dull for some readers; but life was dull then, particularly in an isolated lighthouse with no community but fellow lighthouse keepers and their families. More independence and meaningful work than romance here, which I enjoyed, as well as the formal style of writing and conversation true to the time and locale.

8 out of 10 For readers who enjoy literary historical fiction. show less