Uusma, Bea "The Expedition"

Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (Swedish: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013

This was our international online book club book for January 2024.

We don't read many non-fiction books in our online book club, so this was quite a change. And a good one.

The story is very old. It started at the end of the 19th century when three Swedes wanted to go to the North Pole in a balloon.

Unfortunately, they didn't make it. For 33 years, nobody heard from that or knew what had happened. Until some fishermen found their bodies.

But what really might have happened, was still a big mystery. Until Bea Uusma, a Swedish author, illustrator and medical doctor happened upon the story and got curious. She found a lot of evidence and put together the story as it most possibly happened.

Quite an interesting story, even if some parts of the puzzle will never be solved. I thought it was nice to follow the author on her quest to finding the key to the riddle.

A lot of pictures and illustration complete the report about the search.

From the back cover:

"11 July, 1897. Three men set out in a hydrogen balloon bound for the North Pole. They never return. Two days into their journey they make a crash landing then disappear into a white nightmare.

33 years later. The men's bodies are found, perfectly preserved under the snow and ice. They had enough food, clothing and ammunition to survive. Why did they die?

66 years later. Bea Uusma is at a party. Bored, she pulls a books off the shelf. It is about the expedition. For the next fifteen years, Bea will think of nothing else...

Can she solve the mystery of The Expedition?"

Sackville, Amy "The Still Point"

Sackville, Amy "The Still Point - 2010

In 1899, Edward Mackley sets out to be the first person to reach the North Pole. His wife Emily stays behind in England to wait for him. A hundred years later, their great-great grandniece Julia starts sifting through the papers, journals, letters, anything left behind by the two while going through a rough patch in her own marriage.

The Financial Times called this "An Excellent Debut". I couldn't agree more. She was also compared to Virginia Woolf. Not a bad comparison. Amy Sackville has a wonderful way of describing feelings and actions at the same time. Her plot is original and interesting, her thoughts somewhat philosophical. Great novel. Looking forward to her next one.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"At the turn of the twentieth century, Arctic explorer Edward Mackley sets out to reach the North Pole and vanishes into the icy landscape without a trace. He leaves behind a young wife, Emily, who awaits his return for decades, her dreams and devotion gradually freezing into rigid widowhood. A hundred years later, on a sweltering mid-summer's day, Edward's great-grand-niece Julia moves through the old family house, attempting to impose some order on the clutter of inherited belongings and memories from that ill-fated expedition, and taking care to ignore the deepening cracks within her own marriage. But as afternoon turns into evening, Julia makes a discovery that splinters her long-held image of Edward and Emily's romance, and her husband Simon faces a precipitous choice that will decide the future of their relationship. Sharply observed and deeply engaging, The Still Point is a powerful literary debut, and a moving meditation on the distances - geographical and emotional - that can exist between two people."

Høeg, Peter "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow"

Høeg, Peter "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" (Danish: Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne) - 1992

I remember everyone raving about this book. Smilla is a native Greenlander, an Inuit who lives in Denmark. She is friends with a neighbour boy who is killed by a fall from the roof. It is declared an accident but Smilla doesn't' believe it and starts her own investigation. A murder mystery with a twist.

Even though I don't usually enjoy crime stories, I thought this was quite fascinating.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

Book Description:

"When caustic Smilla Jaspersen discovers that her neighbor - a neglected six-year-old boy, and possibly her only friend - has died in a tragic accident, a peculiar intuition tells her it was murder. Unpredictable to the last page, Smilla’s Feeling for Snow is one of the most beautifully written and original crime stories of our time, a new classic."

Nadolny, Sten "The Discovery of Slowness"

Nadolny, Sten "The Discovery of Slowness" (German: Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit) - 1983

Interesting tale based on the successful arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin.

A wonderful account of his life and discoveries but also a great description how something that is usually conceived as negative, in this case a "slowness" that is regarded as "mental retardation" can be used for the good of something. In this case, the "slowness" enables the character to concentrate better on what he wants to achieve.

Very well written, interesting perspective, I really enjoyed this book.

(I did read the German original, so can't vouch for the translation.)

From the back cover:

"Nadolny's masterpiece, a huge commercial and critical success in Germany and across Europe, recounts the life of one of the most interesting explorers of the nineteenth century - Sir John Franklin who, amongst other achievements, paved the way for the discovery of the NorthWest Passage. By means of Nadolny's acute reading of history and his storytelling prowess, the reader follows this misfit's development from awkward schoolboy to expedition leader, Governor of Tasmania, icon of adventure. Not only a riveting account of a remarkable life, 'The Discovery of Slowness' is also a profound and thought-provoking meditation on time. The result is an extraordinary reading experience that justifies the novel's reputation as one of the classics of contemporary German literature."

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.