A dozen women join a secret 1850s Arctic expedition—and a sensational murder trial unfolds when some of them don't come back.
Eccentric Lady Jane Franklin makes an outlandish offer to adventurer Virginia Reeve: take a dozen women, trek into the Arctic, and find her husband's lost expedition. Four parties have failed to find him, and Lady Franklin wants a radical new approach: put the women in charge.
A year later, Virginia stands trial for murder. Survivors of the expedition willing to publicly support her sit in the front row. There are only five. What happened out there on the ice?
Set against the unforgiving backdrop of one of the world's most inhospitable locations, USA Today bestselling author Greer Macallister uses the true story of Lady Jane Franklin's tireless attempts to find her husband's lost expedition as a jumping-off point to spin a tale of bravery, intrigue, perseverance and hope.
MY THOUGHTS:
This book takes you to a very cold and unforgiving place. Both in the courtroom and on ice. Virginia Reeve takes a group of 13, suppose to be 12, women on an expedition to try and find Lady Jane Franklin's husband. From ships out on the water to walking in the freezing cold she tries to guide these woman. Many won't and don't make it. It's very hard for Virginia to see the women dying and knowing there is nothing she can do to stop it.
In the courtroom Virginia watches helplessly as person after person comes and testifies to things many do not know. They haven't a clue what happened. She's on trial for one person's death. Both her death and her "kidnapping."
You will feel the freezing cold. You will feel the ship as it glides across the water. You will feel the fear in Virginia as she faces a very uncertain future. If she has a future at all. If she is not hanged.
This book is done so excellently and in a way that draws you right in. It's written in almost complete perfection. You will feel so many things. From a bit of laughter to full on sobbing tears. From anger at how some people act both before the expedition and after while in the courtroom. It made me very mad how Virginia was treated by the men in this century.
This story is told from different time frames. One from the court and one from the beginning to the ending of the Arctic expedition. How the women managed. What they felt both about where they were and how they got along with one another. It always amazes me how women treat each other.... My heart broke for Virginia all during this book. I felt she was giving a raw deal. But you have to make up your own mind. You have to read this beautifully written, almost poetic, story for yourself and decide if you think things happened the way they should have. You will see things from several points of view. Things that happened on the expedition and things that happen in the courtroom. The thing that got me was how crooked courts could be even back then...
Very well written. Very likable characters. This book will take you on an adventure you won't soon forget. The descriptions are so well done. All of them.
Thank you #NetGalley, #GreerMacallister, #Sourcebookslandmark for this ARC. This is my review as I saw this story.
A big 5/5 stars and the highest possible recommendation.
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