In her writing, Wheeler has a knack for immersing herself in the places that she visits, and teasing out the stories of the location and the people.

She has been appointed writer in residence in Antarctica, and sets about visiting as many of the bases across the continent that she can. Her easy going manner makes it easy for her to fit in with the predominately male staff. She writes about the characters in each of the bases, and the antics that they get up to, and the way that they cope with the isolation and the climate. As people become aware of her presence she get more invitations to other bases. She is put with the artist in residence, and they are allowed to live a short way from the base to they can concentrate on their art and writing. The book covers the history of the polar exploration there too, and the narrative is woven with the places that Scott and Amundsen visited, lived at and sadly perished at.

Wheelers descriptions of the glaciers and landscape are very evocative, but do not hold back from the reality and brutality of the weather and the cold there. It is a beautifully written book, partly because it is one of the places that make her feel so alive and this glee comes across in the book, and also that her observational writing is accurate and measured. ( )

Joy's review: The author spends almost a year in Antarctica and does most of what is done on the frozen continent. Wheeler has done her research as well and intertwines the history of discovery and exploration with her own experiences. A good armchair visit to Antarctica. ( )

i find antarctica really boring to read about. it's just cold and white. maybe being there is a different experience. the history of antarctic exploration was the only thing i found interesting in this book. i would space out while she was wring about antarctica and its people(her main interest?)and then come to for the history parts. at 330 pages it was way too long. there were only 3 maps and most of the places she mentioned were't on the maps so i mostly never knew where she was. did she? ( )

It probably takes an odd duck to think that traveling to Antarctica would be simply amazing. I am that odd duck. I would love to one day visit this ice bound continent. And that's not likely to happen any time soon so reading about someone who did make that trip is next best. And if I'm an odd duck for thinking I'd love to go, Sara Wheeler is probably an even odder duck (or perhaps that should be odder penguin) for having gone.

The book is both a travel memoir and a history of man's famed and forgotten travels in the frozen south. Wheeler interweaves her own travels, planned and spur of the moment, through the icy continent, visiting scientific bases and outposts, learning about the realities of life on the ice now with excerpts from Scott and Aumundsen and Shackleton's journeys. The historical information is never overwhelming, instead adding dimension to the experiences that Wheeler herself has in her journeys through Antarctica. Both the modern day and historical travels are fascinating. Wheeler also spends much time describing the other people who live and work on the ice. All of them are clearly a breed apart and all are moved by their time on the ice.

This is more contemplative than many travelogues but it is no less descriptive than most for taking place in a landscape that is, on first impression, so uniform. Wheeler captures the hardships that plague life on the ice in vivid language but she also celebrates this still so unknown continent also. Wheeler's trip to the actual South Pole is merely one instance of her travels around and given no more importance than her other camp visits. Her final weeks, spent with only one artist companion, in a hut set aside for their creative endeavors offers a sense of peace and closure to the end of her journeyings. Readers with an interest in history and the Antarctic will enjoy this slow and thorough narrative of a summer (and part of a winter) in the south. ( )

Amazing read. Funny, intelligent and enlightening. A trip to Antarctica is in order, I feel. You sometimes need a dictionary for some of the obtuse words she uses. ( )