The White Darkness

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventureJOHN GRISHAM on David Grann'sThe Lost City of Z
Awonderful storyof a lost age of heroic explorationSunday TimesonThe Lost City of Z
Marvellous ... An engrossing bookwhose protagonist could out-think Indiana JonesDaily TelegraphonThe Lost City of Z

DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE WEEK

One man's perilous quest to cross Antarctica in the footsteps of Shackleton.

Henry Worsley was a devoted husband and father and a decorated British special forces officer who believed in honour and sacrifice. He was also a man obsessed. He spent his life idolizing Ernest Shackleton, the 20th-century polar explorer, who tried to become the first person to reach the South Pole and later sought to cross Antarctica on foot. Shackleton never completed his journeys, but he repeatedly rescued his men from certain death and emerged as one of the greatest leaders in history.

Worsley felt an overpowering connection to those expeditions. He was related to one of Shackleton's men, Frank Worsley, and spent a fortune collecting artefacts from their epic treks across the continent. He modelled his military command on Shackleton's legendary skills and was determined to measure his own powers of endurance against them. He would succeed where Shackleton had failed, in the most brutal landscape in the world.

In 2008, Worsley set out across Antarctica with two other descendants of Shackleton's crew, battling the freezing, desolate landscape, life-threatening physical exhaustion and hidden crevasses. Yet when he returned home he felt compelled to go back. On November 2015, at age 55, Worsley bid farewell to his family and embarked on his most perilous quest: to walk across Antarctica alone.

David Grann tells Worsley's remarkable story with the intensity and power that have led him to be called simply the best narrative nonfiction writer working today. Illustrated with more than 50 stunning photographs from Worsley's and Shackleton's journeys, The White Darkness is both a gorgeous keepsake volume and a spellbinding story of courage, love and a man pushing himself to the extremes of human capacity.

Praise for David Grann'sKillers of the Flower Moon:

A riveting true story of greed, serial murder and racial injustice JON KRAKAUER

A fiercely entertaining mysterystoryand a wrenching exploration of evil KATE ATKINSON

A fascinating accountof a tragic and forgotten chapter in the history of the American West JOHN GRISHAM

Disturbing and riveting...Grann has proved himself a master of spinning delicious, many-layered mysteries that also happen to be true...It will sear your soul DAVE EGGERS, New York Times Book Review

An extraordinary story with extraordinary pace and atmosphere Sunday Times

A marvel of detective-like research andnarrative verveFinancial Times

Reviews

Will inspire some, just as it frightens others the story of what addiction can do to you: addiction to a place, to suffering and to the heroic idea of what it meant to be British * Evening Standard *
'History tends to favour Captain Scott's polar legend, but Worsley preferred Shackleton... Worsley makes it to Shackleton's mark and the pole beyond, then returns twice more, including an attempted solo crossing... For a lesson in tenacity, it's up there' * Strong Words magazine *
Granns ability and eye for detail have crafted a fine and moving tale * Explorers Web *
Grann is a New Yorker staff writer to be reckoned with... Tones of Mailer and Hemingway gust through the book as Grann tells the story of his hero The greatness of Worsleys courage, and the descriptions of his family and friends, are truly moving * The Spectator *
Worsley had immense courage, a lovable, almost boyish sense of adventure, and his family felt huge pride in him, as did the British nation * Daily Mail *

Author Bio

David Grann is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He has written about everything from New York City's antiquated water tunnels to the hunt for the giant squid. His stories have appeared in several anthologies. He has written for the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the New Republic. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.