In this memoir, Howard Norman, primarily a novelist and author of such works as The Bird Artist and The Haunting of L., documents a friendship he had with Helen Tanizaki almost 30 years ago. Both were sent to Churchill, Manitoba, to translate Inuit folktales, Tanizaki into Japanese and Norman into English, at a time when Norman was, as he openly admits "not very self-reflective". The memoir draws attention to the influence of both this woman and the folktales on Norman's life and his future as a novelist. The format of the short book outlines how the learning process seemed to work: interspersed with reminiscences of conversations with Helen are the variances of the Noah stories, as told to the translators by Mark Nuqac.

In each story, Noah arrives in the bay with his animals and his family and faces a winter of being iced in. He does not heed the advice of the village people, who offer him help and shelter in trade for a couple of pieces of wood from the ark or an animal to eat. His mode of suffering through the winter is the variance in the different versions of the tales, but in all of them, he leaves after the thaw, heads south, and is never seen again. The ingenuity of how the folktales work in this memoir is not really revealed until about halfway through, when the reader sees the patterns of the tales matched with Norman's personal growth through his relationship with Tanizaki.

Norman admits that he did not "rise to the occasion of being in Helen's and Mark's compelling company", but he is unnecessarily self-judgmental. He is quite opposite to Helen in many ways; however, the misunderstandings between them seem to clarify their feelings and personalities, as opposed to closing each other off. The contrast between their dealings with Mark is a good example: Norman and Mark butt heads often whereas Mark reveres Helen in his own way. While Mark's reasons for gruffness with Norman are a little difficult to interpret, the control with which each interpreter addresses Nuqac's tales may be the reason, and both seem to understand that.

In contrast to his attempt to control the interpretations, Norman lets Helen's greatness show through her actions; only a couple of times does he provide commentary on his admiration for her. The best part of the book is just that. She is likeable not only for her frankness and her intelligence but the contrasting dreaminess with which she faces her own demise through stomach cancer. Her decision to choose reincarnation as the way to go, as she wishes to live again as a seabird ("I've decided to become a bird of the sea and the cliffs") shows a wisdom which Norman obviously recognizes but lets shine on the page, not by explaining it away in his own words.

Helen's interests range from linguistics to birdwatching to literature, and her admiration for Ryunosuke Akutagawa (most widely known as the author of Rashomon) hints to her personal philosophy and understanding of her own fate. She speaks several times about "writing the Arctic" as her main activity in life, and the book's epigraph is a quote from Akutagawa--"What good is intelligence if you cannot discover a useful melancholy?"-- indicating an intriguing response to certain aspects of human life. Tanizaki's claim that "[m]elancholy seems just the right mood to keep a clear perspective on life", along with her aspect of control in choosing one's own afterlife, provide two of the most powerful afterthoughts that result from reading this memoir. While Norman explains his resistance or puzzlement in discussing these issues with Helen when she was alive, his words reveal that he has thought much about them since.

Given the responsibility of spreading Helen's ashes at Cape Freels, Newfoundland, Howard Norman (as Helen was in the habit of addressing him) indeed feels the limits of belief challenged by the pull of an inquisitive and "living" personality:

What could be more of a gift than to follow dear Helen's instructions, to follow through on what, in a letter, she referred to as "my attempt at reincarnation." I myself did not believe in it, not just then, at least, but was privileged to convey Helen into her belief. Once all the ashes had disappeared, once I had brushed ashes from my face and jacket and boots, I read Helen's note again and then did something I had never done before or have done since, laughed until I cried.

While Norman's prose in this work is not particularly stunning or innovative, its truthfulness makes the reading experience striking. It's the kind of book that makes the reader think about how few true "individuals" one meets along the way, and how deep their influence proves to be.