First published 1996
In the frigid white wilderness of the 19th century, British explorers risked everything for an impossible dream. Driven by a complex mix of imperial ambition, scientific curiosity, and romantic obsession, men like Scott and Shackleton ventured into landscapes no human had survived. Their expeditions were not just geographical missions, but psychological trials that tested the absolute limits of human endurance. Each journey carried crushing logistical challenges: limited supplies, brutal temperatures, and terrain that swallowed men whole. Survival meant navigating not just physical geography, but the treacherous inner landscape of human determination and delusion. Spufford reveals how these expeditions were less about conquest and more about understanding the radical edges of human experience—a meditation on courage, madness, and the seductive power of the unknown.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, biography-memoir, 19th-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: obsession, survival
Setting: Polar Regions
Period: 19th Century
384 pages · Paperback · FABER AND FABER