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Madhouse at the End of the Earth
Madhouse at the End of the Earth
Oct 25, 2024 2:34 AM

Author:Julian Sancton

Madhouse at the End of the Earth

'An epic of survival' -- MICHAEL PALIN

'A "grade-A classic"' -- SUNDAY TIMES

'Utterly enthralling' -- GEOFF DYER, GUARDIAN

'Deeply engrossing' -- NEW YORK TIMES

LISTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SUNDAY TIMES

The harrowing, survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly wrong, with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter.

August 1897: The Belgica set sail, eager to become the first scientific expedition to reach the white wilderness of the South Pole. But the ship soon became stuck fast in the ice of the Bellinghausen sea, condemning the ship's crew to overwintering in Antarctica and months of endless polar night. In the darkness, plagued by a mysterious illness, their minds ravaged by the sound of dozens of rats teeming in the hold, they descended into madness.

In this epic tale, Julian Sancton unfolds a story of adventure gone horribly awry. As the crew teetered on the brink, the Captain increasingly relied on two young officers whose friendship had blossomed in captivity - Dr. Frederick Cook, the wild American whose later infamy would overshadow his brilliance on the Belgica; and the ship's first mate, soon-to-be legendary Roald Amundsen, who later raced Captain Scott to the South Pole. Together, Cook and Amundsen would plan a last-ditch, desperate escape from the ice-one that would either etch their names into history or doom them to a terrible fate in the frozen ocean.

Drawing on first-hand crew diaries and journals, and exclusive access to the ship's logbook, the result is equal parts maritime thriller and gothic horror. This is an unforgettable journey into the deep.

Reviews

A "grade-A classic" that's feverishly compelling ... this story has everything

—— Sunday Times

Exquisitely researched and deeply engrossing

—— New York Times

Utterly enthralling

—— Geoff Dyer , Guardian

An epic of survival. A mixture of chaos and great courage; part Monty Python sketch, part real-life heroics

—— Michael Palin

The next great contribution to polar literature. A wild tale, so well told and immersively researched

—— Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of IN THE KINGDOM OF ICE

A brilliant, vivid piece of writing that should be read by all who care about heroism, courage, ingenuity and endurance... it is adventure to the max, and peopled by wonderful characters. As soon as you finish, you want to read it again

—— Roger Alton , Daily Mail

The story of the Belgica has been told before, but never so brilliantly. Madhouse at the End of the Earth belongs at the heights of polar literature

—— The Times

Considering that much of Madhouse at the End of the Earth is about moribundity, Sancton does well to make each page exciting - "murder, suicide, starvation, insanity, icy death and all the acts of the devil"

—— Roger Lewis , Telegraph *****

A riveting true-life horror story ... an obscure but important history transformed by deep research and note-perfect storytelling into a classic thriller

—— Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of STEVE JOBS and LEONARDO DA VINCI

Artfully constructed, written with evenly-paced poise and with a kind of dread-filled assurance, it grips from first sentence to last

—— Lawrence Osborne, international bestselling author of THE FORGIVEN

One of the most enthralling-and harrowing-adventure stories in years... An unforgettable tale brilliantly told

—— Scott Anderson, bestselling author of LAWRENCE IN ARABIA

Has it all: Idealism, ingenuity, ambition, explosives, flimflammery, a colourful cast, a blank map, a three-month-long night, penguins (and medicinal penguin meat). A riveting tale, splendidly told

—— Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of THE WITCHES and CLEOPATRA

A mesmerizing, unputdownable read... an epic of Antarctic exploration

—— Nathaniel Philbrick, author of IN THE HEART OF THE SEA and VALIANT AMBITION

[A] riveting history... A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale

—— Kirkus Reviews

The savage beauty of the antarctic landscape grips. The writing is exacting, compelling and compassionate.

—— The Literary Review

The energy of the narrative never flags... Mr. Sancton has produced a thriller, and a welcome addition to the polar shelves

—— Sara Wheeler , Wall Street Journal

A riveting account...well-researched and enthralling

—— Publishers Weekly

'A splendid, beautifully written book'

—— Owen Matthews , The Spectator

This is an epic of exploration, a brilliantly vivid piece of writing told by a natural storyteller

—— Daily Mail

Julian Sancton's impressive research and incisive writing style ensures that this lockdown story grips like the pack ice

—— Yachting Monthly

Despite having an engrossing plot, the book reminds you that plot is never really the point of a great novel, and this is a great novel

—— Erica Wagner , Financial Times

A beautifully wrought saga of human connection and the creative process, of love and all of its complicated levels. A gem of a novel, intimate yet sweeping, modern yet timeless. Bits of this book lingered in my head the way ghosts of Tetris pieces continue to fall in your mind's eye after playing

—— ERIN MORGENSTERN

I read this in one sitting - I physically couldn't put it down. It is just as wonderful as everyone says

—— LOUISE O'NEILL, author of Idol

I loved this novel about two kids setting up a computer games company. What fascinated me is it's not about a romantic relationship but friendship.

—— Mat Osman , The Times

Gets at so much about work, love and storytelling. It's a book that spawns great conversations

—— Maggie Shipstead , Guardian

You needn't be a gamer to be charmed by this immersive tale of friendship, creativity and life's messy wonders

—— Mail on Sunday

I cannot recommend it highly enough

—— HANK GREEN, Instagram

When was the last time I read a book that surrounded me like this? . . . I'm blown away

—— KATIE CLAPHAM, Storytellers Inc

I love it so much. So so much

—— MELINDA SALISBURY, author of The Sin Eater's Daughter

You'll be sobbing behind your Celine sunnies

—— Evening Standard

Utterly absorbing

—— Wired

An artfully balanced novel - charming but never saccharine. The world Zevin has created is textured, expansive and, just like those built by her characters, playful

—— Pippa Bailey , Observer

This book is impossibly good-one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life. I press it into people's hands with a demented kind of urgency. 'Yeah, yeah, I don't care about video games either. I promise you'll love it.' And everybody does. How did Gabrielle Zevin write such a perfect novel about friendship? I mean, really. How? In any case, she did, and it's a treasure

—— CATHERINE NEWMAN

Tremendous new novel about art, friendship and gaming . . . a literary blockbuster destined to be filed in the Great American Novel category

—— Helen Brown , Independent

"Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" is actually a novel about friendship . . . a creative partnership as intense as a marriage . . . draws any curious reader into the pioneering days of a vast entertainment industry too often scorned by bookworms. And with the depth and sensitivity of a fine fiction writer, Zevin argues for the abiding appeal of the flickering screen

—— Ron Charles , Washington Post

A brilliant story about life's most challenging puzzles: friendship, family, love, loss. By turns funny, poignant, wistful, and occasionally devastating

—— NATHAN HILL, author of THE NIX

The sort of book that comes around once in a decade - a magnificent feat of storytelling. It is a book about the intersection between love and friendship, work and vocation, and the impossible and relentless pull of our own west-bound destinies

—— REBECCA SERLE, author of In Five Years

Sam and Sadie's relationship is pure wizardry; it's deep and complex, transcending anything we might call a love story. Whether you care about video games or not is beside the point. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the novel you've been waiting to read

—— Book Page, Chika Gujarathi

I feel completely changed by this book from Gabrielle Zevin. It's a book about love - about friendship, but really it transcends the borders of storytelling. My heart ached when I finished it. Truly unforgettable

—— CATHERINE CHO, author of Inferno

The perfect engrossing holiday read...beautiful and heartbreaking

—— The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Zevin's delight in her characters, their qualities, and their projects sprinkles a layer of fairy dust over the whole enterprise. Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have.

—— Kirkus

A one-of-a-kind achievement

—— Publishers Weekly

A particularly memorable and compelling kind of love story... [a] nuanced depiction of human connection over 30 years that will have you blinking back tears behind your sunglasses

—— Culture Whisper, *Summer Reads of 2022*

dazzling and intricately imagined

—— B&N Reads

Zevin's writing is like being put under a spell. She's kind of magical.

—— Liberty Hardy , WBEZ

Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have.

—— Kirkus

exhilarating

—— Smithsonian

engrossing

—— Wall Street Journal

delightful and absorbing . . . expansive and entertaining

—— Tom Bissell , New York Times

The go-to for your next hit of Nineties nostalgia; if you ever spent too long playing Donkey Kong, this one's for you

—— Evening Standard, *Summer Reads of 2022*

This is a boy meets girl story that is never a romance - though it is romantic . . . Their relationship is a joining of minds and of worlds that is both purer and sweeter than any base physical attraction

—— Pippa Bailey , Observer

Big-hearted, generous, intelligent and open to the complexities of life

—— Irish Independent

A novel that treasures the act of play and holds it sacred . . . the world of video games and video game development is just the landscape in which life plays out . . . Tomorrow is about love, above all things

—— Sarah Maria Griffin , Guardian

Delightful and absorbing

—— Tom Bissell , International New York Times

Teenagers of the 21st century are as likely to bond over video games as they are rock music or movies. Gabrielle Zevin's exhilarating, timely and emotive book is perhaps the first novel to truly get to grips with what this means

—— Guardian

Exhilarating... this is refreshingly original

—— Psychologies

It is the imaginary world of a game, a world Zevin describes with the addict's ardour, which forms a universe even the sturdiest parent or antediluvian book-lover will be enticed into.

—— Big Issue

Friendship, love, loyalty, violence in America and the magic of invented worlds. Gorgeous

—— People

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a special book -- one that transports readers fully, as games do their players, into its immaculately crafted world

—— The Times

Woven throughout are meditations on originality, appropriation, the similarities between video games and other forms of art, the liberating possibilities of inhabiting a virtual world, and the ways in which platonic love can be deeper and more rewarding - especially in the context of a creative partnership - than romance.

—— New Yorker

Zevin probes at many of the themes that energize video games as a medium: their narrative depth, their therapeutic value, their casual violence, their toxic industry. And the possibility of living a better life in a virtual world

—— Wired

Zevin has the ability to make you care about her creations within paragraphs of meeting them... whose fates I consistently worried about when I occasionally had to put the book aside.

—— Financial Times

[An] engrossing, delightful novel... Zevin has the ability to make you care about her creations within paragraphs of meeting them... [Tomorrow] is rich with characters whose intertwined fates power the narrative

—— Financial Times

This book, with its respect for craft-the craft of love and games, or loving games-will remind you of how abundant one life is, how lucky we are to keep each other in our memories forever.

—— Kotaku

[I] raced through this pure wonder of a book in a few days

—— NINA MINGYA POWLES, author of Small Bodies of Water

A 2022 book that everyone should read

—— Pandora Sykes , Stylist LIVE

A must-read

—— Neil Druckmann

Anyone who reads Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow can't stop talking about it

—— Stylist

Utterly beautiful and endlessly hopeful, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a love letter to life, friendship, and creativity

—— The Skinny, *Books of 2022*

[The] 2022 book that everyone should read

—— Pandora Sykes , Stylist Live

My #1 book to recommend . . . incredible, like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon meets The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. It's about love and friendship and video games

—— Emma Straub

It feels right that the best video game novel out there is by a woman. Her story about the decades-long friendship and partnership between video game designers Sam and Sadie gets at so much about work, love and storytelling. It's a book that spawns great conversations.

—— Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch

In following Sam and Sadie's journey from Massachusetts to California and into the imagined worlds of their games, Zevin writes the most precious kind of love story

—— Time Magazine, Best Novel of the Year

Zevin's writing is poetic, the plot is entertaining, moving and gripping and the nods to real life video games make it all feel incredibly real

—— Skinny, *Books of the Year*

Reading this is almost like an invitation from Zevin to enter a game...with every scene and moment so carefully constructed. Just brilliant

—— Skinny, *Books of the Year*

I loved it

—— Sarah Keyworth

A hugely enjoyable novel about lives and loves mediated by technology

—— Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2023*

This playful, accomplished novel is a poignant celebration of friendship, love - and gaming

—— Daily Mail

An engrossing coming-of-age story

—— Sunday Times, *Books of the Year*

Epic in scale, with unforgettable characters, it breaks you heart and puts it back together

—— Daily Express, *Books of the Year*
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