Polar Wives: The Remarkable Women Behind the World's Most Daring Explorers

Polar explorers of the Victorian and Edwardian eras were superstars in their day. Exploration was a male domain, and most women encountered the wilder parts of the world second-hand. But a handful struck off on a bold path in pursuit of broader horizons by becoming “polar wives”. In her portraits of the sculptor Kathleen Scott; traveller Jane Franklin; poet Eleanor Anne Franklin; Jo Peary, the first white woman to travel in the high Arctic; tenacious Emily Shackleton; celebrated Norwegian singer Eva Nansen; and her own mother, adventurer Marie Herbert, author Herbert blends accounts of longing, betrayal, and hope with moments of breathtaking peril. Drawing on her own experience of life in a polar family, Herbert illuminates the crucial role these vibrant, strong-willed women played in publicizing, defending and even financing their husbands’ expeditions. With extracts from previously unpublished historic journals and letters, Polar Wives brings together for the first time, the compelling stories of seven adventurous women.