Under a Pole Star: Shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Novel Award - Softcover

Penney, Stef

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1786481170 ISBN 13: 9781786481177

Publisher: Quercus Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

THE RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK - 'ONE OF THE BEST NOVELS I HAVE READ FOR A VERY LONG TIME' RICHARD MADELY

'A dazzling tale of romance and survival' (Guardian)

Follow the path to the freezing north. Follow your ambition. Follow your heart

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 head of her own expedition of exploration.

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 there is an instant connection that slowly builds to become an all-consuming love. The affair survives the growing tensions between the two groups. Then, after one last 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, 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 Stef 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.

About this title

Review

Penney works hard to fill her canvas with colour and conviction (Sunday Times)

A terrific and beautifully written yarn that will make readers yearn to travel and fall in love in a cold climate (The Times)

It is a tribute to Penney's superlative descriptive skills that the book's erotic charge is so startlingly effective, and that her icy landscapes cast such a lasting, almost hallucinatory spell. This combination is the true rocket fuel of Under a Pole Star, and what makes it resonate long after the Snow Queen has divulged her long-held secret (Guardian)

Curl up with this stunningly evocative tale about an intrepid young female explorer. As immersive as it is mesmerising, this is a novel that you won't ever forget (Heat)

This . . . powerful drama is played out against a landscape that dominates [Penney's] imagination (Daily Mail)

A beautifully written tale, elegant and well-observed, full of powerful descriptions of a dazzling landscape (Sunday Express)

This is an epic love story set against the forbidding beauty of snow meadows. A perfect winter read (Red Magazine)

What has marked Penney out from the start is her ability to make her extensive historical research come alive (Sunday Herald)

A suspenseful epic, offering a leitmotif of constant unease . . . impressive (Guardian)

Unquestionably atmospheric, evocative and . . . rewarding (Independent on Sunday)

From the Author

Stef Penney grew up in the Scottish capital and turned to film-making after a degree in Philosophy and Theology from Bristol University. She made three short films before studying Film and TV at Bournemouth College of Art, and on graduation was selected for the Carlton Television New Writers Scheme. She has also written and directed two short films; a BBC 10 x 10 starring Anna Friel and a Film Council Digital Short in 2002 starring Lucy Russell. She won the 2006 Costa Book Awards with her debut novel The Tenderness of Wolves which is set in Canada in the 1860s. . As Stef Penney suffered from agoraphobia at the time of writing this novel, she did all the research in the libraries of London and never visited Canada.

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1786481170
• ISBN 13: 9781786481177
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 608