It was inevitable that Edna Ferber should write a novel about Alaska. The magnetic northern land has all the qualities that draw her to a scene—robustness, magnitude, epic tradition, the clash of strong-willed men and their stubborn duel with Nature. In her novel "Ice Palace" she has put more of Alaska between covers than any other writer in its short and crowded history….

The Ice Palace is a steel-and-glass apartment hotel in the bustling town of Baranof, halfway up the long Alaskan coast. It is also a kind of emblem of Alaska—people inside it can see out, but the people outside cannot see in….

Inside and Outside is the conflict in this novel, and Chris Storm's two grandfathers are allied with the two forces…. Between the two forces is Edna Ferber's heroine, who is like Alaska itself: "Beneath her shining surface were hidden treasures and wonders of the mind and heart and spirit."

Her heroine…. Here is the difference between Miss Ferber and the "modern" novelists, and a reason for the multitude of her readers. She still sees people in large dimensions, strong enough to be actors rather than to be acted upon. This novel contains a whole gallery of them, with Christine Storm in the center. Frankly heightened and exaggerated, they are men and women to match the seas and skies and mountains of the big North Country.