In the Kingdom of Ice

Set during the twilight of the golden age of exploration, the gripping narrative of In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides plunges readers into a harrowing journey to the North Pole, a place long shrouded in mystery and dubbed the "unattainable object of our dreams." This masterful tale chronicles the valiant voyage of the USS Jeannette, which set sail from San Francisco in 1879, greeted by exuberant crowds and a barrage of publicity. Under the command of the tenacious and determined Captain George De Long, the ship and her crew embarked on a perilous expedition into the uncharted Arctic waters.

Their mission, however, took a dire turn when the Jeannette became ensnared in a vice of relentless pack ice. With the ship's wooden hull succumbing to the enormous pressure, the crew faced the heart-stopping reality of being stranded over a thousand miles north of Siberia. Isolated from civilisation and armed with only the sparsest of provisions, they confronted an insurmountable trek across an abyss of ice.

Led by Sides' evocative prose, readers are thrust into the Arctic’s savage challenges: insidious snow blindness, menacing polar bears, and unforgiving blizzards. The landscape itself becomes an antagonist, a frosty labyrinth that tests the men's endurance and spirit. As they battle these relentless forces, they must ward off encroaching madness and stave off starvation, their survival hanging by the most tenuous of threads.

Hampton Sides meticulously reconstructs this formidable expedition, blending historical documentation with vivid storytelling. The result is a compelling portrait of exploration, resilience, and the human spirit’s indefatigable quest to conquer the unknown. In the Kingdom of Ice is not merely an account of a doomed voyage; it is a celebration of tenacity, courage, and the relentless pursuit of discovery amidst one of the world's most formidable frontiers.