num_pages: 608
description: Flora Mackie was twelve when she first crossed the Arctic Circle on her father's whaling ship. Now she is returning to the frozen seas as the head of her own exploration expedition. Jakob de Beyn was raised in Manhattan but his yearning for new horizons leads him to the Arctic as part of a rival expedition. When he and Flora meet all thoughts of science and exploration give way before a sudden all-consuming love.The affair survives the growing tensions between the two groups but then after one more glorious summer on the Greenland coast Jakob joins his leader on an extended trip into the interior with devastating results.The stark beauty of the Arctic ocean where pack ice can crush a ship like an eggshell and the empty sweep of the tundra alternately a snow-muffled wasteland and an unexpectedly gentle meadow are vividly evoked. Against this backdrop Penney weaves an irresistible love story a compelling look at the dark side of the golden age of exploration and a mystery that Flora returning one last time to the North Pole as an old woman will finally lay to rest.
language: English
title: Under a Pole Star
publisher: Quercus Publishing