ISBN: 1728215692
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publication Date: 12/01/2020
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars
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.
Praise
"In her enthralling new novel, The Arctic Fury, Greer Macallister takes her readers on a thrilling, if arduous, journey to the Arctic north, alongside Virginia Reeve and her all female expedition in a quest to find the ships of a lost explorer. Through alternating glimpses into the voyage itself and the murder trial afterwards, the enterprise and its secrets -- both tantalizing and terrorizing -- reveal themselves in turn, sweeping readers along until they reach the story's spell-binding conclusion. A captivating look at the manner in which the "truth" is formed by the lens through which it is perceived, a lens formed by time, place, and views on women."
- Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room, The Other Einstein, Lady Clementine and Carnegie's Maid
"In her latest gem of a historical novel, Greer Macallister once again entrances the reader with her gift of riveting prose and finely crafted suspense. Equal parts courtroom drama and literary thriller, The Arctic Fury bears all the twists and turns of a runaway train, barreling through an expedition as harsh and unrelenting as the Arctic north itself. The diverse cast of female survivors, while haunted by impossible choices, serves as a timely reminder of the hope born in darkness and the enduring bonds of sisterhood. A remarkably unique and mesmerizing tale."
- Kristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday
"Greer Macallister plunges readers into a wild, frozen landscape as beautiful and awesome as it is punishing and lethal. This is a story of thirteen intrepid women, each with her own reasons for setting out on an ill-fated expedition, as well as a story of the secrets we carry, the pasts we try to outrun, and the bonds of friendship that save and inspire us to carry on. Macallister writes with rich historic detail and sumptuous prose, exploring new ground as she takes readers on this Arctic journey."
- Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Queen's Fortune
"An unforgiving, snow-dazzling landscape, a cast of extraordinary, fierce women, and a nail-biting courtroom drama that wrecked my nails makes this historical gem unputdownable!"
- Kim Michele Richardson, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
"Suffused with a spine-tingling aura of dread, Macallister's complex, riveting historical novel The Arctic Fury includes tantalizing glimpses of nineteenth-century women's lives... a captivating window into the ways that race, class, and sexual and gender identities interact within the broad, shared social category of womanhood."
- Foreword Reviews, Starred Review
"Engaging and difficult to put down... Macallister's writing is powerful, and she concocts a gripping story with strong, very human characterizations."
- New York Journal of Books
"[An] adventurous historical mystery... Moving from the present to the past and from one woman's voice to another, Macallister captures the suspenseful journey from all angles as readers uncover the truth about what really happened out on the ice."
- Booklist
"Written in prose as crisp as an Arctic summer...THE ARCTIC FURY is a tribute to one young woman's leadership and genius for survival."
- BookPage
"Macallister examines sexism and racism in the pre-Civil War United States, and builds a compelling mosaic of a story... Readers who love historical fiction, strong women and unusual settings will find all three--as well as a couple of truly inventive twists."
- Shelf Awareness
About the Author
Raised in the Midwest, Greer Macallister is a novelist, poet and playwright who earned her MFA in creative writing from American University. Her debut novel THE MAGICIAN'S LIE was a USA Today bestseller, an Indie Next pick, and a Target Book Club selection. Her novels GIRL IN DISGUISE (“a rip-roaring, fast-paced treat to read” - Booklist) and WOMAN 99 (“a nail biter that makes you want to stand up and cheer” - Kate Quinn) were inspired by pioneering 19th-century private detective Kate Warne and fearless journalist Nellie Bly, respectively. Her next book, THE ARCTIC FURY, is forthcoming from Sourcebooks in December 2020. A regular contributor to Writer Unboxed and the Chicago Review of Books, she lives with her family in Washington, DC. . Website