North

North is a historical tale of arctic adventure, political chicanery, the power of love, and abandonment at the ends of the earth. Lieutenant Parish sails to the Arctic Ocean on the adventure of a lifetime as the leader of the American Arctic Expedition. It is a journey that will make his name in history – if he survives. Unfortunately for Parish, the ultimate survival of the expedition depends on corrupt and inept politicians. However, unknown to Parish in his arctic prison, his new wife, Martha, is a greater ally than he ever realized. As Martha casts off her innocence and overcomes the obstacles of the political machine, Parish struggles to hold his men together in a hostile landscape that pushes the human psyche into new and dangerous spaces. North is set in the late nineteenth century and based on the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition – which has been called "one of the most shameful episodes in American Arctic history." The novel explores the tragic story of the expedition's terrible ordeal and its inevitable end.