Books: Whole Sea Catalogue

CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT by EVERETT S.ALLEN 302 pages. Little, Brown. $10.

Between the cozy certitudes of 19th century New England and the savage, uncharted Arctic Ocean, there was a compelling connection. It was the bowhead whale. A fat, amiable, elegant creature who wound and warbled (in middle C) through the ice pack on his northward journey each spring, Baleana mysticetus grew up to 75 ft. long, weighed about a ton a foot, and returned fortunes to the Quaker entrepreneurs of New Bedford who sold his blubber and bones to make candles and corsets.

The...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!