About this item
Highlights
- In 1871, nineteen men, women, and children, voyaging on the Arctic explorer USS Polaris found themselves cast adrift on an ice floe as their ship began to founder.
- Author(s): Steven Heighton
- 432 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Historical
Description
About the Book
In 1871 off the coast of Greenland, 19 men, women, and children, cast adrift on an ice floe from their foundering ship, the Arctic explorer "Polaris," endured a six-month winter ordeal before finally being rescued the following spring. In "Afterlands," Heighton provocatively fills in the blanks of the documented history of this event.Book Synopsis
In 1871, nineteen men, women, and children, voyaging on the Arctic explorer USS Polaris found themselves cast adrift on an ice floe as their ship began to founder. Based on one of the most remarkable events in polar history, Afterlands tells the haunting story of this small society of castaways -- a white and a black American, five Germans, a Dane, a Swede, an Englishman, and two Inuit families -- and the harrowing six months they spend marooned in the Arctic, struggling to survive both the harsh elements and one another. As the group splinters into factions along ethnic and national lines, rivalries -- complicated by sexual desire, unrequited love, extreme hunger, and suspicion -- begin to turn violent. Steven Heighton's provocative novel fills in the blanks of the Polaris's documented history and explores the shattering emotional and psychological consequences faced by those who survive.
Review Quotes
"Skillfully constructed, beautifully written, told with a detachment that will put the reader in mind of Graham Greene..." The Washington Post
"A novel of big ideas and beautiful language. [Afterlands] is a magnificent novel..." The New York Times Book Review "Canadian novelist Heighton is an elegant writer, and the story he tells is gripping." St. Louis Post-Dispatch "This novel's scale, its delight in detail and its psychological insight make it an exceptionally satisfying adventure." Publishers Weekly "... ambitious successor to [Heighton's] excellent debut novel" Kirkus Reviews --