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Lady Franklin's Revenge
Lady Franklin's Revenge
Sep 21, 2024 5:41 PM

Author:Ken McGoogan

Lady Franklin's Revenge

Born into a wealthy London family in late-eighteenth-century England, Jane Griffin enjoyed nothing like the opportunities available to men of her class. And yet she became a world traveller, ranging far off the beaten path of Grand-Tour Europe to explore Russia, Greece, the Holy Land and northern Africa. She rode a donkey into Nazareth, sailed a rat-infested boat up the Nile River, and, at age of seventy, circumnavigated the globe in rough sailing ships.

Jane married Captain John Franklin at thirty-six. She helped him seize the opportunity of a lifetime - leadership of a Royal Navy expedition destined, supposedly, to solve the final riddle of the Northwest Passage. After Franklin disappeared into the Arctic, she badgered the Admiralty into dispatching dozens of ships to locate him; she financed voyages through public subscription, paid for others out of her own pocket, and inspired even the president of the United States to contribute to the search.

In 1854, when explorer John Rae returned from the Arctic with news that the final survivors of the Franklin expedition, while starving to death, had degenerated into cannibalism, Jane enlisted the celebrated Charles Dickens to repudiate him. She then sent Leopold McClintock to the area Rae had specified, and he brought back the evidence she sought, exonerating Franklin personally and opening the way to her creation of a legend.

Reviews

An exhaustive and scrupulously researched biography.

—— Sara Wheeler , The Times

McGoogan's sharp insight has portrayed a deliciously satisfying portrait.

—— BBC History Magazine

'Ken McGoogan has written a scrupulous, surprising, illuminating and, dare one say it, affectionate biography of a woman whose life as a diarist, traveller and social reformer will come to surpass many of her better-known contemporaries. A woman who, in her vigorous and relentless quest for the truth concerning the fate of her husband and his search for the Northwest Passage, has done considerably more to map and make known the kaleidoscopic maze of the Canadian Arctic than a boatload of less well equipped adventurers'

—— Robert Edric

Detailed, thorough and compulsive

—— Mail on Sunday

This well-written, fast-paced book presents a fascinating picture not only of this iconic widow but also of the age itself.

—— THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE, Jan07

It's a lyrical account of his life with two retrievers and his various experiences of love, loss, despair, depression and death, lightened by insightful humour and by intelligent delight in doggy details.

—— Irish Times

A vindication of the heartbreaking risk of loving those you may lose, and one of the best books about depression and grief I have ever read.

—— The Guardian

A superbly sustained piece of reflective autobiography, Dog Years gives voice to unspeakable grief.

—— The Daily Herald

A memoir ... that robes the peculiarly strong and almost inexpressible relationship between people and mute creatures - a love that at times goes beyond reason, yet can also represent the most profound attachment ... Doty, who is also a poet, writes with intelligence and lyricism.

—— Metro

Illuminating, perceptive and profound meditation on life, death and the adoration of dogs.... Doty is rightly regarded as one of America's finest living poets - recipient of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the T.S.Eliot Prize. He brings that sensibility to bear on the very weight of a dog's head in your hand, the way they know you are leaving and show it in their eyes, the nuances of their wags. He unashamedly regales us with the silliest details (the way the animals sprawl on the bed between him and his partner) to demonstrate his own inarguable humanity.... You finish this memoir like a retriever after a stick, with no choice but to start over again.

—— The Times

[A] moving book.

—— The Reader

A major new exposé . . . This is not yet another doomsday read about the perils of flying, or debating the pros and cons of carbon off-setting, it's an honest account of the huge impact we have on the destinations we frequent . . . Rather than throwing reams of statistics at us, Hickman paints a more graphic picture of the impact our travelling makes by telling the story through the eyes of locals he meets on his way round the globe. His discoveries of what lies behind the glossy veneer of a resort hotel make for sober reading.

—— Scotsman

A fascinating and harrowing read. I doubt anyone has spelt out the inherent dangers of tourism so clearly before. The publication of this could well prove to be a 'tipping point'.

—— Jason Webster, author of GUERRA

Leo Hickman's enthralling book should be read by politicians, students and, most of all, by every would-be tourist.

—— Tahir Shah, author of THE CALIPH'S HOUSE

This is a really excellent critique of the travel industry . . . If you are interested in the tourist industry this book is highly recommended, being easy to read, while being very thorough and searching in the questions it asks.

—— Fiona Archer , www.ecozine.co.uk

Excellent and thoroughly compelling . . . The Final Call deserves to be read by those of us lucky enough to be able to fly on a regular basis . . . Hickman's book is a sobering, thoughtful and intelligent reminder that it is a privilege we need to be forcefully reminded not to take for granted.

—— Irish Times

Thoughtful and thought-provoking.

—— Mick Herron , GEOGRAPHICAL magazine

Well written and engaging without being too gloomy and prescriptive, this book makes for uncomfortable, yet necessary, reading for anyone who enjoys travel.

—— Telegraph

This much appreciated book should be a must-read for everyone who likes to travel, and should be translated into the languages of the world's tourism champions. It should also be a must-read for politicians and decision makers in development agencies to finally understand that tourism has lost the 'virginity' of a harmless leisure sector to develop into a dangerous global driving force which needs to be regulated and restricted.

—— Contours magazine
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