Pole to pole - stories of the Arctic and Antarctic
Arctic
Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Augustine, an aging astronomer in the Arctic, chooses to stay at his research station after an evacuation, only to discover a young, mysterious girl named Iris. Sully is an astronaut on a return mission from Jupiter, whose crew finds Earth eerily silent. As Sully and Augustine's paths converge, their intertwined stories lead to a deeply moving and unforeseen resolution, prompting profound reflection. This compelling narrative stands as a testament to the enduring strength of love and the resilience of the human spirit.
Read for: space travel, isolation, global collapse, astronomy, found family
The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller
Driven by a thirst for adventure, Sven Ormson departs Stockholm for the wild wastes Svalbard in 1916, a land of perpetual winter darkness and perilous beauty. He braves the unpredictable Arctic, facing both the mesmerizing Northern Lights and the threat of polar bears. A mining accident forces him further north, into solitary existence, building a remote hut and relying on his dog for companionship. This isolated routine is shattered by the arrival of an unexpected visitor, forging connections with a community of outcasts and irrevocably altering Sven's isolated life.
Read for: social isolation, gentle humour, recovery from trauma, resilience and perseverance
The North Water by Ian McGuire
Patrick Sumner, a disgraced surgeon, joins a voyage to the Arctic, seeking escape. Onboard is Henry Drax, a harpooner of savage violence. The voyage descends into a nightmare of brutality, murder, and survival against the unforgiving Arctic landscape. McGuire's stark prose depicts the harsh realities of the era, exploring the depths of human depravity and the struggle for existence in a world stripped bare of morality.
Read for: thrillers, historical fiction, morally bankrupt characters, horror and gore, whaling
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
In a twist of time, Commander Graham Gore, presumed lost in the Arctic's 1845 tragedy, resurfaces in near-future England. A clandestine government agency has plucked him and his companions from the past, thrusting them into a world of "washing machines," "Spotify," and the stark reality of the British Empire's decline. Our narrator, a "bridge" assigned to ease their transition, finds her professional detachment wavering as she develops a complicated attraction to the heavy-smoking, time-displaced explorer.
Read for: time travel, romance, spies, science fiction, alternative universe England
Taaqtumi edited by Neil Christopher
"Taaqtumi," meaning "in the dark" in Inuktitut, unveils the chilling potential of darkness through a collection of Northern horror stories, plunging readers into harrowing scenarios: a family's desperate struggle against a tundra-borne zombie virus, a sinister doorway concealing unimaginable terror, and a post-apocalyptic Arctic community harboring unsettling secrets.
Read for: horror, indigenous tales, post-apocalypse, zombies
Antarctic
Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor
When a research expedition to Antarctica goes tragically awry, "Doc" is left speechless and sick. Back home in the UK, Doc's recovery is arduous, with his wife Anna taking the brunt of the caregiving as he struggles to regain his language, and to come to terms with what happened, through an aphasia support group. The novel poignantly examines the fragility of communication, the challenges of recovery, and the ripple effects of a life-altering event on a family.
Read for: Expeditions gone wrong, husbands and wives, illnesses, language
The Ice-Cold Heaven by Mirko Bonné
As Europe plunges into World War I, Ernest Shackleton embarks on an audacious Antarctic crossing. His ship, Endurance, carries twenty-eight men, sled dogs, and a hidden stowaway, seventeen-year-old Merce Blackboro. Departing from South Georgia, their journey is swiftly thwarted by the relentless Antarctic ice. Trapped within the Weddell Sea's pack ice, the Endurance faces an uncertain and perilous fate, leaving the expedition's ambitious goals hanging in the balance.
Read for: Shackleton's journey, fictionalised reality, adventure
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Marian Graves, a woman marked by a dramatic infancy and a rebellious youth during prohibition, finds her true calling in flight. Escaping a troubled marriage, she pilots Spitfires in WWII and later pursues her ambitious "great circle" polar flight. Her disappearance during this attempt casts her into legend. Decades later, a struggling actress, cast to portray Marian in a biopic is irresistibly drawn to the mysteries of her life.
Read for: feats of epic aviation, women's stories, family sagas, adventure
The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge
Bainbridge portrays the ill-fated expedition of Captain Robert Scott through the eyes of himself and the four men through their journal entries and letters home, masterfully delving into their individual thoughts and experiences, capturing the harsh realities of the expedition, the psychological strain of the environment, and the men's growing sense of doom.
Read for: polar exploration, unreliable narrators, based on real events
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Bernadette a brilliant architect, stifled by domesticity and social anxiety, flees after a school fundraiser goes disastrously wrong. Her daughter, Bee, pieces together her mother's past, revealing a story of creative frustration, family bonds, and a search for self-rediscovery that will take them to the ends of the Earth, literally.
Read for: mothers and daughters, agoraphobia, missing people, humour & satire, uplifing stories
