Book excerpt: “Bear” by Julia Phillips

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Julia Phillips, whose bestselling debut novel “Disappearing Earth” was a finalist for the National Book Award, returns with “Carry” (Hogarth), a hypnotic, suspenseful story about sisters on an island off the coast of Washington whose lives are turned upside down by the presence of a bear near their home.

Read an excerpt below.

“Bear” by Julia Phillips

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“You won’t believe what we saw from the boat tonight,” she said to Elena, who was at the sink washing the day’s dishes. It was late and Elena’s shift had ended hours ago, but she was always waiting for Sam. Elena had brought home some leftover chili con carne from the golf club and Sam was digging into it, with grated cheddar and scallions. Her mother was asleep in her room. “Will you guess?”

The forest around their house was silent and black. Thick with hawthorn, which grew dark fruit, and Douglas firs. A yellow glow at the edge of the kitchen window betrayed the presence of their closest neighbors, the Larsens, who tastefully lit their gardens with spotlights and greeted the girls all too politely when they met in town. Danny Larsen, their youngest son, had invited Elena to homecoming her senior year. His mother promptly passed on the invitation.

Elena said, “A corpse.”

“Oh, Jesus,” said Sam, putting down her fork. “Would I talk like that if we saw a dead body?”

“I don’t know. You get worked up about the strangest things.” Elena brushed the hair from her cheek with a wet wrist. “A whale.”

“We see whales all the time. Guess again.”

“A sea lion.”

Sam rolled her eyes. And even though she was behind her sister’s back, Elena couldn’t see her, Elena seemed to know anyway. The movement must have been felt. So Elena was already on to the next guess: “A merman.”

“You’ll never get that. A bear!”

“No way.”

“A giant bear! Swimming in the canal!”

Sam had seen it himself: the wet, furry hump on the animal’s back, the line of its neck, its pointed nose and small round ears. The water was silver and the sky dark blue, and the creature was a dark blur against those colors, but the last light in the air outlined its shape, making it clear and shocking and alien. The tourists called to each other in delight. Exclamations in English, Spanish, Chinese. One of them threw something into the water in the direction of the animal, and another passenger scolded them. The ferry chugged on, but for a few minutes, long, strange ones, the boat and the bear lay side by side, pushing forward, leaving the mainland together and heading off into the night. The captain even made an announcement over the intercom so everyone sitting inside could see for themselves. The bear raised his head. His smooth shoulders. The spreading waves he left behind. He didn’t look in her direction as he paddled on determinedly.

Elena now dried the plates and stacked them in the cupboards. “Where in the canal? You don’t think it could reach us, do you?”

“Between Shaw and Lopez.” Sam was amused by the question. “Why? Are you scared?”

“From bears?”

“From scary bears?”

“You are not?”

“No way.” What was Sam afraid of? Wasting away here. Dreaming of opportunities she could never take, and by denying them she would wither away, become poorer, more pressured, and more removed from the rest of the world. Compared to these fears, being mauled by a bear seemed like a pleasure.

Elena turned back to the sink. “Our brave girl.”

“How was your day?”

“Good. No wild animals. Unless you count Bert Greenwood’s drunken visit at lunchtime.”

“That’s not unusual, I think.”

“More like a whale than a bear,” said Elena.

Her hands were under the faucet. Her face was tilted downward so that her neck was long and the bones in her neck were prominent. “Shall I make the pots?” asked Sam.

Elena shook her head. “That’s no problem. Keep talking.”

From the book Bear by Julia Phillips. Copyright © 2024 Julia Phillips. Published by Hogarth, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

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“Bear” by Julia Phillips

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