Review: UNDER A POLE STAR by Stef Penney

Release date - 3rd November 2016
Book length - 608 pages
Available on - www.amazon.com | www.amazon.co.uk

                                          BLURB
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.

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REVIEW
UNDER A POLE STAR by Stef Penney is a hypnotic narrative with a dark edge, that will pull you into another time and place, where survival isn't always guaranteed. The story is based on Flora's life as we watch her grow up on her father's whaling boat in the nineteenth Century, which was considered highly improper for a girl at that time, to later in life when she becomes a meteorologist and marries a man who will help her realise her wish to co-lead a scientific expedition. We truly get to know Flora, flaws and all, as she embarks into the Arctic once again, and falls deeply in love with Jakob DeBeyn. Through the golden age of discovery we are enveloped in this harsh world of many sides, and as we travel alongside Flora's life-journey, many mysteries and enigmas become unearthed. UNDER A POLE STAR by Stef Penney is a piece of historical genius and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but be warned, at 608 pages, this is not a short, light, read.

BOOK RATING - 📖📖📖📖 4.5 

Author Bio:
Stef Penney is a screenwriter and the author of three novels: The Tenderness of Wolves (2006), The Invisible Ones (2011), and Under a Pole Star (2016). She has also written extensively for radio, including adaptations of Moby Dick, The Worst Journey in the World, and, mostly recently, a third installment of Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise series.
The Tenderness of Wolves won Costa Book of the Year, Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year, and was translated into thirty languages. It has just been re-issued in a 10th anniversary edition. For more information:
Website - www.stefpenney.com

*Book obtained from Netgalley.com