"One helluva read."--Newsweek - "Gripping."--Outside -
"Spellbinding."--Associated Press - "Powerful."--New York
In 1912, the Saint Anna, a Russian exploration vessel in search of
fertile hunting grounds, was frozen into the polar ice cap, trapping her
crew aboard. For nearly a year and a half, they struggled to stay alive.
As all hope of rescue faded, they realized their best chance of survival
might be to set out on foot, across hundreds of miles of desolate ice,
with their lifeboats dragged behind them on sledges, in hope of reaching
safety. Twenty of them chose to stay aboard; thirteen began the trek; of
them all, only two survived.
Originally published in Russia in 1917, In the Land of White Death was
translated into English for the first time by the Modern Library to
widespread critical acclaim. As well as recounting Albanov's vivid,
first-person account of his ninety-day ordeal over 235 miles of frozen
sea, this expanded paperback edition contains three newly discovered
photographs and an extensive new Epilogue by David Roberts based on the
never-before-published diary of Albanov's only fellow survivor,
Alexander Konrad. As gripping as Albanov's own tale, the Epilogue sheds
new light on the tragic events of 1912-1914, brings to life many of
those who perished (including the infamous captain Brusilov and nurse
Zhdanko, the only woman on board), and, inadvertently, reveals one new
piece of information--about the identity of the traitors who left
Albanov for dead--that is absolutely shocking.
"Poetic."--The Washington Post - "A lost masterpiece."--Booklist -
"A jewel of polar literature."--Seattle Post-Intelligencer - "Vivid .
. . [a work of] terrifying beauty."--The Boston Globe
