Earth, Air, Water, Light

Earth, Air, Water, Light is a love story set in the mid 1800’s in Michigan’s northern frontier. As the story begins, Adelaide Rose, a young newlywed, departs her native Cornwall, England with her husband Jonas. Leaving behind everything that they have ever known, they travel across the ocean to try their luck in faraway America. It is the discovery of copper in a place called Keweenaw that draws them to the remote and unrelenting wilderness. While traveling, as they wait in Sault St. Marie for passage further north, Adelaide encounters a French-Canadian adventurer, Calix Napolean Purchase. It is an encounter that will change her life. It is also while in the Sault that Adelaide witnesses the power and fury of Lake Superior. The loss of a boat named The Northern Constellation impacts the Roses is an unexpected way when eventually they reach their final destination in Copper Harbor. Not long after their arrival, a mining accident that leaves a young man blinded sets in motion a series of events and the rape of a mysterious young woman shocks the small community. It is another accident at the mine that brings into her life Darwin, a three legged dog. Adelaide Rose is a strong, willful young woman and an independent thinker. Living in the harsh and challenging north woods, a place where social convention means little, Adelaide finds the freedom to be herself. She discovers her love for nature and the love of two men. Ultimately she must choose her one true love. Keweenaw, at the time of the story, is a land of shipwrecks and mining accidents, drownings and formidable winters. It is also a land of boundless beauty. Exposed to unspoiled wilderness for the first time in her life, the mystery and beauty of the natural world bring Adelaide to examine the relationship that human beings have with nature and the effect that religion has on that relationship.