Empire Antarctica
Ice, Silence, and Emperor Penguins
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Meet the majestic Emperor Penguins of Antarctica in this “mesmerizing and memorable” travel memoir about a doctor’s year-long appointment to the remote Halley Research Station (The Economist).
Gavin Francis fulfilled a lifetime’s ambition when he spent 14 months as the basecamp doctor at Halley, a profoundly isolated British research station on the Caird Coast of Antarctica. So remote, it is said to be easier to evacuate a casualty from the International Space Station than it is to bring someone out of Halley in winter.
Antarctica offered a year of unparalleled silence and solitude, with few distractions and a very little human history, but also a rare opportunity to live among emperor penguins, the only species truly at home in the Antarctic. Following Penguins throughout the year—from a summer of perpetual sunshine to months of winter darkness—Gavin Francis explores the world of great beauty conjured from the simplest of elements, the hardship of living at 50 C below zero and the unexpected comfort that the penguin community bring.
Empire Antarctica is the story of one man and his fascination with the world’s loneliest continent, as well as the emperor penguins who weather the winter with him. Combining an evocative narrative with a sublime sensitivity to the natural world, this is travel writing at its very best.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this engrossing account of a doctor's 14 months at Halley, a British research station on the coast of Antarctica, what truly stands out is the book's lyrical prose. Francis (True North) forgoes a burgeoning medical career in Britain to live at Halley with a multidisciplinary crew of scientists to study among Empire penguins during a winter season of complete darkness, with temperatures as low as 55 degrees below zero Celsius cold enough to freeze boiling water in mid-air. While providing thoughtful observations on the life cycle and mating habits of the penguins, Francis also offers a history lesson about past Antarctic pioneers Ernest Shackleton, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, William Spears Bruce regaling the reader with the triumphs and failures of his predecessors. Despite struggling with the isolation and silence of Antarctic life, the author's buoyant optimism keeps the narrative moving; he includes anecdotes about celebrating Christmas, making Easter eggs, even participating in "extreme ironing." Through Francis's juxtaposition of literary allusions and poetic descriptions of the Antarctic sky, the vibrant rookery of penguins, and aurora australis, the reader gains new perspective on the frozen continent. Photos.
