Hell With A Capital H

In this absorbing book, Katherine Lambert recounts one of the greatest survival stories ever to emerge from the age of polar exploration - that of the Northern Party, a scientific team on Scott's final Antarctic expedition. From 1911 to 1912, the Northern Party pursued two research missions. The first was planned and comfortable by polar standards. The second rapidly spiralled out of control. The party became stranded when their rescue ship failed to penetrate the pack ice. Their six-week sledging trip turned into an epic struggle to survive the polar winter with only an igloo for shelter. When spring came, the six men struggled to walk 230 miles to base camp. Battling malnutrition and illness, as well as a harsh environment, the men finally made it to their destination. Lambert teams her own crisp prose with extracts from previously unpublished diaries. This lends immediacy to the story and wins our empathy for these men from the outset. The unassuming Murray Levick emerges as the true hero of the Party. Levick's concern with mental and physical fitness undoubtedly saved lives, and he created a sense of solidarity between very different characters. As well as bringing the men to life, Lambert evokes Antarctica with grim accuracy, charting the psychological effects of being exposed to such eerie beauty and outrageous weather conditions. Her descriptions of polar midwinter are as visceral as her descriptions of the men's failing health. The photographs, mainly Levick's, are often poignant. Lambert's epilogue includes three haunting photographs of the party at different stages in their ordeal. She shows how suffering damaged the men but also eroded the class boundaries between them. Lambert pieces together a rich story of adventure and misadventure. This is a humbling tale of men who struggled against the limitations of their environment and their times. (Kirkus UK)