Bear

A Novel

Julia Phillips

Meet Sam and Elena, the sisters at the heart of this modern fable set in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Seattle. If they remind you of Snow-White and Rose-Red from the Grimm’s fairy tale, that’s not an accident.

Our ‘Snow-White’ Sam works at the concession stand on a ferry that shuttles among the islands of Puget Sound. Her sister Elena, the would-be Rose-Red, is a waitress at the country club. Their beautiful, formerly vibrant mother slowly fades away in the back bedroom of their house in the woods, dying from an illness caused by solvents at the nail salon where she worked.

It hasn’t always been like this.

When the sisters were young, they loved living on San Juan island, frolicking in the woods, spotting whales offshore, inseparable and glad to be so. Now, they live in nearly permanent shadow.

The first few chapters are a beautifully rendered, wrenching depiction of their servitude to the privileged customers at their day jobs. The stress and heartbreak of caring for their ailing mother. The crushing weight of bills they can’t pay with no end in sight for the relentlessness of their days.

Sam clings to a promise Elena made to her years ago: When the sad day of their mother’s death arrives, they’ll sell the house, move off the island, and find a way to ‘Slog less, live more. Become the people they had never before had the freedom to be.’

Then one day, they wake to a bear at the door. Just like that, the story swings toward fable and fantasy while also remaining tethered to the real world.

Sam is initially excited about the bear sighting. It’s something different and borderline magical. But she soon becomes frightened of the enormous creature. The earthy smell that lingers in its wake. It’s sheer size. The big gnashing claws and teeth. Its unknowability.

But Elena is enthralled. She takes the long way home, walking past the forest to talk to the bear and tempt him with leftover food. She believes the bear is a sign of their shifting fortunes, a bit of magic that will change their luck.

Wild animals being what they are, the bear is unpredictable. And the two sisters — on opposite sides of this bear situation — begin to acknowledge the tiny fissures in their relationship. As secrets are revealed and various heartbreaks ensue, the sisters realize their expectations and shared memories diverge.

Although this story is decidedly melancholy, there are glimmers of hope — and the emotional ride is immensely cathartic. It’s an affecting tale about family and the secrets we keep, even (or especially?) from the people we love the most. It examines class, entitlement, and the burdens borne by the working poor. And it’s a love letter to the beauty and brutality of nature.

Summers, the girls would go over to Lime Kiln and pass entire days posted up on the rocky bluffs watching for whales. Spotting them was like catching shooting stars. You couldn’t focus on any one spot — you had to let your gaze go wide. Elena was especially good at it. She would jostle Sam’s elbow and say, ‘Humpback.’… Humpbacks, gray whales, minkes, porpoises rolling and leaping in the surf. Gorgeous orcas, with their dorsal fins sharp as blades. The girls hiked along the coastal cliffs as otters floated below. They went north… and played pretend among the thick damp ferns…. [they] chased each other down the park’s trails. They hooted and squealed. Their world seemed enchanted, a paradise. — Julia Phillips

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