The Broken Lands: A Novel of Arctic Disaster

Like the Arctic ice it so beautifully and realistically it describes, this book keeps the reader in its vise as the ships of the Franklin expedition were kept. This is a real page turner, and with each page I became more identified with the well-drawn characters and anxious for them to survive, although I knew in advance that they wouldn't. Franklin himself is the least clearly drawn, and this is O.K. here, as he is almost an eminence gris, so far above the "common" man on the expedition. This novel did what any good work should do: it made me want to delve deeper into the facts and check out some of the other titles that have been recommended here.

The quest for the NorthWest Passage has always fascinated me. Reading accounts of Nansen, Frobisher and Hudson fuelled my early love for adventure and the North.Broken Lands does not disappoint. This novel tells of an expedition into the Canadian North by the "Lion of the North," Sir John Franklin. The research that author Robert Edric must have done is showcased in the detailed account of the effects of extreme cold on the expedition's ships and sailors. He gives the North a distinct character in Broken Lands: one of a harsh, merciless adversary.The characters are believable and the story is captivating. the descriptions of the Arctic are evocative and powerful. Edric writes for his audience. The combination of personal struggle and taut action makes Broken Lands immensely readable.The Franklin expedition may not have happened exactly as Edric presents it, but after reading Broken Lands, it certainly feels possible. An excellent fictional supposition of what the expedition was like.