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Ice Maiden, The
1842. Stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic, her whaling captain husband lost at sea, Karina is destitute and desperate. Disguised as a cabin boy, she stows away on a British ship. But Karina is about to get a nasty surprise. As she grows closer to ship's surgeon Joseph Hooker, Karina and the rest of the crew find themselves pushed to the limits both physically and emotionally as conditions worsen onboard. Engulfed in the chillingly hostile Antarctic landscape, something extraordinary happens - and Karina's story becomes intertwined with some of the 20th century's bravest Polar explorers ...
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2018
9 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Sara Sheridan
46 books431 followersBorn in Edinburgh. I'm a complete swot - love books always have! Currently obsessed with late Georgian/ early Victorian culture, the subject of several of my novels, and with 1950s Britain for my Mirabelle Bevan murder mystery series set across the UK - and even one in Paris. Occasionally write tie-in books for historical dramas on TV, children's picture books and short stories, mostly for charitable causes.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
September 1, 2018
The Ice Maiden by Sara Sheridan is the story of Karina a young woman who is destitute and starving after the death of her husband. She dresses as a boy and stows away on a ship to try and get back home to Sweden and her sister. She is given a job in the kitchen but is injured in an accident and then the crew discover her true identity.
I enjoyed the first half of this book. The second half was not as interesting for me.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed the first half of this book. The second half was not as interesting for me.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
October 14, 2018
1842. Karina is stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic after her husband, who is a whaling captain, is lost at sea. Her hope is that her sister in Amsterdam will respond to her letter and send money for her to travel to Amsterdam. But, as the days go by and no letter arrives, Karina gets more and more desperate. So, she stows away on a British ship...
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
December 11, 2021
I'm a sucker for the poles. I just am. There's no getting over it. I'd sell a kidney to go. Maybe....Anyway, I loved this story. I wasn't so enamoured with the love story portion, because ugh! But on the whole the rest was great. I think I liked the second half best. Seeing all the interactions with truly heroic and historic figures. I thought it was well written, and I may just read it again in a few years time. My thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for the ARC.
December 31, 2018
It's the 19th century and widow Karina stows away on a ship disguised as a boy trying to get back to Europe. She is found work in the galley where her amazing cooking wins over the officers and she becomes closer to the ship's doctor. The ship is heading to the Antarctic though and not Europe and this brings the crew into contact with the Shackleton expedition. I love Sheridan's Mirabelle Bevan series but, for some reason, this story fell flat for me and I didn't care much for the characters.
January 15, 2024
I genuinely have no idea what the point of this book actually was
June 9, 2023
!!! Spoiler Review !!!
It's very hard to write anything about this book without spoilers, because of the huge shift in the story partway through. The Ice Maiden is a complicated book. In trying to write a female perspective on early Antarctic exploration, it's trying to do something incredible and admirable--I applaud the effort, and I love the twist. Unfortunately, the book does not accomplish its lofty goals.
There are so many universes in which I would have loved this book. If I knew nothing of the history of Antarctic exploration and went in blind, I'd have loved it (if this is you, you may well like it, and more power to you! It is historical FICTION, after all.) If the book had been more historically accurate, I'd have loved it. As it is, using real historical figures but writing misunderstandings and inaccuracies, I cannot follow the story without being distracted by my external knowledge.
It's not that I'm unwilling to suspend disbelief for historical fiction--I love the invention of a whaling town on Deception Island in 1842, and I can fully follow putting Karina there and having her stow away on the Terror. Her discovery that she stowed away on the one ship that was southbound was incredibly done, and I was fully invested in her adventure. Aside from an uncomfortable racial stereotype, I liked the first part of the book, set during Ross's Antarctic Expedition (knowing what I do from the second half, however, perhaps my enjoyment here was mostly because I know relatively little about this expedition and the true characters of men like Ross and Hooker!).
I am enamoured with the idea of a vengeful female spirit haunting Antarctica. It fits in so well with the way women are forgotten in history, with the hubris of these imperialistic all-male attempts on the ends of the earth. The way Karina's death and ghosthood is written resonated with me, even as a few of the mechanics of how ghostliness works in this universe felt like the writer was justifying them to herself as she wrote.
Sheridan is a very good writer. Her descriptions of the landscape, her emotional insights, the way she's always checking in with the women who are connected to the men, and the sense of time and space bleeding into each other in the second half of the novel are all well-done--her prose is heartfelt.
The trouble is...she plays fast and loose with the facts and personalities of the "Heroic" Age of Antarctic Exploration. Sometimes she gets it right--the way Karina can never reach Cherry because he is already haunted, in particular, really struck me and gave me pause. But many things, from hard logistical facts (she has motor sledges and mentions of airplanes in 1902), to timeline issues (Scott is already married as of his first expedition in this), to grafting modern ideas onto historical voices (why have Shackleton as such a vocal sledge dog advocate when he later brought ponies on Nimrod?) add up quickly. To be clear, these are not nitpicking: a lot of these decisions and made-up things weaken Sheridan's own thesis. There were plenty of real-life foolish happenings on Discovery that she doesn't need to make them up. In particular, the invention of a dietary experiment run by Wilson on Discovery that resulted in Shackleton getting sick because he was eating a vegetarian diet strikes me as just silly (no such thing happened in reality--why would they knowingly weaken themselves on the ship like this?). The invention also of George Vince a) having a wife and b) cheating on her is bizarre--I get that the point is for Karina to feel vengeful for these women scorned as she has been, but if so, why make up a cheating scandal for Vince (who IRL died unmarried at age 21) and ignore real infidelity (Shackleton)?
I'll step back out of the weeds here. My point is, this book is trying to say something profound about heroism through a feminine lens. This is a really great idea and there is so much material for this in the history of Antarctic exploration. The English WERE incredibly foolish and besotted with and poisoned by imperialism. Scott WAS prone to selfishness, passing harsh judgement, and changing his mind. But in making the planning of the English expeditions even worse than it really was, in writing Scott as almost entirely cruel, Sheridan effectively waters down her own argument by resorting to making things up. If she'd leaned harder into the fiction or harder into the history, I'd have loved this. Alas.
For a better feminist take on the history of Antarctic exploration and the nature of heroism, read Ursula Le Guin's story "Sur".
It's very hard to write anything about this book without spoilers, because of the huge shift in the story partway through. The Ice Maiden is a complicated book. In trying to write a female perspective on early Antarctic exploration, it's trying to do something incredible and admirable--I applaud the effort, and I love the twist. Unfortunately, the book does not accomplish its lofty goals.
There are so many universes in which I would have loved this book. If I knew nothing of the history of Antarctic exploration and went in blind, I'd have loved it (if this is you, you may well like it, and more power to you! It is historical FICTION, after all.) If the book had been more historically accurate, I'd have loved it. As it is, using real historical figures but writing misunderstandings and inaccuracies, I cannot follow the story without being distracted by my external knowledge.
It's not that I'm unwilling to suspend disbelief for historical fiction--I love the invention of a whaling town on Deception Island in 1842, and I can fully follow putting Karina there and having her stow away on the Terror. Her discovery that she stowed away on the one ship that was southbound was incredibly done, and I was fully invested in her adventure. Aside from an uncomfortable racial stereotype, I liked the first part of the book, set during Ross's Antarctic Expedition (knowing what I do from the second half, however, perhaps my enjoyment here was mostly because I know relatively little about this expedition and the true characters of men like Ross and Hooker!).
I am enamoured with the idea of a vengeful female spirit haunting Antarctica. It fits in so well with the way women are forgotten in history, with the hubris of these imperialistic all-male attempts on the ends of the earth. The way Karina's death and ghosthood is written resonated with me, even as a few of the mechanics of how ghostliness works in this universe felt like the writer was justifying them to herself as she wrote.
Sheridan is a very good writer. Her descriptions of the landscape, her emotional insights, the way she's always checking in with the women who are connected to the men, and the sense of time and space bleeding into each other in the second half of the novel are all well-done--her prose is heartfelt.
The trouble is...she plays fast and loose with the facts and personalities of the "Heroic" Age of Antarctic Exploration. Sometimes she gets it right--the way Karina can never reach Cherry because he is already haunted, in particular, really struck me and gave me pause. But many things, from hard logistical facts (she has motor sledges and mentions of airplanes in 1902), to timeline issues (Scott is already married as of his first expedition in this), to grafting modern ideas onto historical voices (why have Shackleton as such a vocal sledge dog advocate when he later brought ponies on Nimrod?) add up quickly. To be clear, these are not nitpicking: a lot of these decisions and made-up things weaken Sheridan's own thesis. There were plenty of real-life foolish happenings on Discovery that she doesn't need to make them up. In particular, the invention of a dietary experiment run by Wilson on Discovery that resulted in Shackleton getting sick because he was eating a vegetarian diet strikes me as just silly (no such thing happened in reality--why would they knowingly weaken themselves on the ship like this?). The invention also of George Vince a) having a wife and b) cheating on her is bizarre--I get that the point is for Karina to feel vengeful for these women scorned as she has been, but if so, why make up a cheating scandal for Vince (who IRL died unmarried at age 21) and ignore real infidelity (Shackleton)?
I'll step back out of the weeds here. My point is, this book is trying to say something profound about heroism through a feminine lens. This is a really great idea and there is so much material for this in the history of Antarctic exploration. The English WERE incredibly foolish and besotted with and poisoned by imperialism. Scott WAS prone to selfishness, passing harsh judgement, and changing his mind. But in making the planning of the English expeditions even worse than it really was, in writing Scott as almost entirely cruel, Sheridan effectively waters down her own argument by resorting to making things up. If she'd leaned harder into the fiction or harder into the history, I'd have loved this. Alas.
For a better feminist take on the history of Antarctic exploration and the nature of heroism, read Ursula Le Guin's story "Sur".
July 23, 2018
Thank you NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for the eARC.
Karina, a young widow, is leading a desperate life of near starvation since her husband, a captain, disappeared off his ship, missing presumed dead. She has no money, owes many people who won't give her anymore credit and her only option is to stow away, disappear from Deception Island to go to Amsterdam, to her sister's. The year is 1842.
Hair shorn and skinny as a rake, she can easily pass for a boy and manages to stow away aboard a British ship. After being discovered and punished with lashes, she is sent below to help the cook and manages to establish a pleasant life, admired for her baking and finding the cook a fair and likeable taskmaster. The ship's doctor eventually discovers she's a young woman and they fall in love.
I don't want to give away any more of the story and will end by saying that this is a wonderful book. The historical heroes who tried to reach the South Pole feature large in the story and the harrowing accounts of life on board a ship in temperatures as low as -50 are jaw dropping. Not to mention when they venture to make their way on foot!
I loved it and can't recommend it highly enough.
Karina, a young widow, is leading a desperate life of near starvation since her husband, a captain, disappeared off his ship, missing presumed dead. She has no money, owes many people who won't give her anymore credit and her only option is to stow away, disappear from Deception Island to go to Amsterdam, to her sister's. The year is 1842.
Hair shorn and skinny as a rake, she can easily pass for a boy and manages to stow away aboard a British ship. After being discovered and punished with lashes, she is sent below to help the cook and manages to establish a pleasant life, admired for her baking and finding the cook a fair and likeable taskmaster. The ship's doctor eventually discovers she's a young woman and they fall in love.
I don't want to give away any more of the story and will end by saying that this is a wonderful book. The historical heroes who tried to reach the South Pole feature large in the story and the harrowing accounts of life on board a ship in temperatures as low as -50 are jaw dropping. Not to mention when they venture to make their way on foot!
I loved it and can't recommend it highly enough.
November 4, 2018
There's something about historical fiction set on islands that I just can't seem to get enough of. The Guernsey Potato and Literary Society and The Light Between Oceans are two wonderfully isolated stories. Author Sara Sheridan has brought us another - this time on an island of ice.
The first third of The Ice Maiden is a fairly standard historical fiction. Details have clearly been closely researched and I warmed to the characters quickly.
The story then morphs into a fascinating, heart-breaking ghost story of loss, betrayal and redemption.
Most of all, this is a story of the early Antarctic polar explorers and their fierce desire to be the first to plant a flag for their country at the South Pole.
If you're looking for a story with a strong sense of place and a very interesting theory of the afterlife, I can highly recommend The Ice Maiden. It had me Googling "Antarctic cruises" by halfway through (they're outrageously expensive, in case you're wondering). Here's a taster of the breathtaking descriptions in the novel:
Sheridan's words will make you feel the killing cold, fatal isolation and majestic beauty of the frozen continent.
Read the rest of this review on Seeing the Lighter Side.
The first third of The Ice Maiden is a fairly standard historical fiction. Details have clearly been closely researched and I warmed to the characters quickly.
The story then morphs into a fascinating, heart-breaking ghost story of loss, betrayal and redemption.
Most of all, this is a story of the early Antarctic polar explorers and their fierce desire to be the first to plant a flag for their country at the South Pole.
If you're looking for a story with a strong sense of place and a very interesting theory of the afterlife, I can highly recommend The Ice Maiden. It had me Googling "Antarctic cruises" by halfway through (they're outrageously expensive, in case you're wondering). Here's a taster of the breathtaking descriptions in the novel:
At sea, there was always an element of blue between the water and the sky but here if you turned away from the shore, the whiteness could overtake you, like stepping through a curtain. Like wrapping yourself in a frozen shroud.
Sheridan's words will make you feel the killing cold, fatal isolation and majestic beauty of the frozen continent.
Read the rest of this review on Seeing the Lighter Side.
July 10, 2018
I have read quite a few of Sara Sheridan's books and what I love about them is that she is writing women back into history. All too often women's contributions to history are overlooked since many accounts were written by men and anything women did write was often not valued or retained. Sara Sheridan's books are full of strong, feisty women bringing a different perspective to history. In The Ice Maiden she mixes fact with fiction to great effect.
Karina is stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic following the death of her seafaring husband on a whaling expedition. She is desperate to return to her sister in Amsterdam and stows away on board a ship, dressed as a boy. However, she is horrified to discover that the ship is in fact heading for the Antarctic, one of the harshest environments in the known world.
Though I was reading this during the continuing heatwave, Sara Sheridan certainly brought the cold of the Antarctic vividly to life. All the little details of life on board ship built up a clear picture of a sailor's life in the 19th and 20th centuries. It must have been meticulously researched and yet the detail is never too much. Sara Sheridan's passion for illuminating history shines through, bringing to life a time and way of life I knew little about. It was fascinating to read about how people survived in such harsh conditions.
Karina was a terrific character to read about. She was a spirited, brave and passionate woman. She had been through so much that when love presented itself, she didn't want to wait, perhaps rather unconventional for a woman of her time but then Karina was a rather extraordinary character. And my goodness she was a brilliant woman scorned!
The story took an unexpected turn which certainly took me by surprise. Once I had got my head around what had happened, I settled back into the story with renewed interest. I did need to suspend disbelief a bit but the way the story unfolds makes this easy to do. It gave Karina - and the reader - a chance to find out and understand so much more about the significant people and places in her life. This different approach to telling the story also enabled Karina to have insight into one of the most famous Antarctic expeditions - the voyage of the Discovery with Scott and Shackleton on board. I'm particularly fascinated by Sir Ernest so loved this part of the story. I've visited the actual ship at Discovery Point in Dundee so could easily imagine life on board.
The Ice Maiden is a hugely enjoyable adventure story of love, betrayal, revenge and danger in the frozen south.
Karina is stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic following the death of her seafaring husband on a whaling expedition. She is desperate to return to her sister in Amsterdam and stows away on board a ship, dressed as a boy. However, she is horrified to discover that the ship is in fact heading for the Antarctic, one of the harshest environments in the known world.
Though I was reading this during the continuing heatwave, Sara Sheridan certainly brought the cold of the Antarctic vividly to life. All the little details of life on board ship built up a clear picture of a sailor's life in the 19th and 20th centuries. It must have been meticulously researched and yet the detail is never too much. Sara Sheridan's passion for illuminating history shines through, bringing to life a time and way of life I knew little about. It was fascinating to read about how people survived in such harsh conditions.
Karina was a terrific character to read about. She was a spirited, brave and passionate woman. She had been through so much that when love presented itself, she didn't want to wait, perhaps rather unconventional for a woman of her time but then Karina was a rather extraordinary character. And my goodness she was a brilliant woman scorned!
The story took an unexpected turn which certainly took me by surprise. Once I had got my head around what had happened, I settled back into the story with renewed interest. I did need to suspend disbelief a bit but the way the story unfolds makes this easy to do. It gave Karina - and the reader - a chance to find out and understand so much more about the significant people and places in her life. This different approach to telling the story also enabled Karina to have insight into one of the most famous Antarctic expeditions - the voyage of the Discovery with Scott and Shackleton on board. I'm particularly fascinated by Sir Ernest so loved this part of the story. I've visited the actual ship at Discovery Point in Dundee so could easily imagine life on board.
The Ice Maiden is a hugely enjoyable adventure story of love, betrayal, revenge and danger in the frozen south.
September 2, 2018
I really wanted to love this book and it was ok until a major shift in the main character that was just a stretch too far for me sadly. It had everything I wanted in a book. A strong female protagonist, a fascinating setting, likable male characters, and even a love story. But then everything shifted and without giving a spoiler it became a very different book. I do think that this is a very personal 2-star rating and that other readers will delight in the shift but for me, it just wasn't believable.
September 16, 2018
This is a book of two halves. In the first section of the book (not strictly a half by quantity) we meet Karina. Her husband has died at sea & she is starving on remote Desolation Island. She stows away on a ship thinking it will take her towards her sister in Amsterdam. When Karina is discovered & put to work in the galley she finds that the ship is not quite going where she thought.
In the second half of the book we meet Shackleton and Scott on their expedition to the Antarctic. We follow the ship & the men as they make discoveries and excursions on their exploration. There is a paranormal leaning to this book as Karina plays a part in this section of the story in an unusual manner.
When I say a book of two halves I meant it in terms of my enjoyment as much as the different sections of the story. I really enjoyed the first section on board ship. The descriptions of their way of life & discoveries when they get to the edge of the antarctic are interesting. The plot is good with great characters and a romantic sub-plot. This was well written and obviously well researched and flowed well.
The second section of the book I found dull and relatively uninteresting. Karina turns into a not particularly nice character and I found it hard to have any thought or care for her. The day to day movements of the explorers got quite turgid and I totally lost interest. It wasn't the paranormal aspect which bored me but rather the fact that the book stalled on several occasions for chapters at a time and just was not going anywhere nor particularly interesting.
I think it was brave of the author to put a paranormal aspect like this into a historical novel. It could have worked but didn't. There was obviously a lot of detail concerning the explorers and Scott's expedition which should have interested me but the focus seemed to lie in the dull minutae of day to day life. I would certainly try reading another book by this author. It is obvious from the first section that they can write an interesting book and I would be happy to give them a second chance.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.
In the second half of the book we meet Shackleton and Scott on their expedition to the Antarctic. We follow the ship & the men as they make discoveries and excursions on their exploration. There is a paranormal leaning to this book as Karina plays a part in this section of the story in an unusual manner.
When I say a book of two halves I meant it in terms of my enjoyment as much as the different sections of the story. I really enjoyed the first section on board ship. The descriptions of their way of life & discoveries when they get to the edge of the antarctic are interesting. The plot is good with great characters and a romantic sub-plot. This was well written and obviously well researched and flowed well.
The second section of the book I found dull and relatively uninteresting. Karina turns into a not particularly nice character and I found it hard to have any thought or care for her. The day to day movements of the explorers got quite turgid and I totally lost interest. It wasn't the paranormal aspect which bored me but rather the fact that the book stalled on several occasions for chapters at a time and just was not going anywhere nor particularly interesting.
I think it was brave of the author to put a paranormal aspect like this into a historical novel. It could have worked but didn't. There was obviously a lot of detail concerning the explorers and Scott's expedition which should have interested me but the focus seemed to lie in the dull minutae of day to day life. I would certainly try reading another book by this author. It is obvious from the first section that they can write an interesting book and I would be happy to give them a second chance.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.
February 6, 2019
The year is 1842, the story is told in third person, the setting-a British explorer ship bound for Antarctica. The main character is a female stowaway dressed as a boy and a ship's doctor who is pretty hot.
At first glance, this is the stuff Harlequin paperbacks are made of.
Or at least really good historical fiction.
This book turned out to be neither.
Karina (called Karl until she's discovered) was abandoned by her husband on the sparsely populated island in the South Atlantic where she grew up which is why she was forced to stow away. Her nationality is Dutch. With her fair hair and blue eyes, she's much too pretty to be a boy, and too good a cook in the galley kitchen where she is put to work to not have been discovered sooner. Good thing the doctor waited until he knew her true gender before trying to sleep with her.
The only reason to read this book is because it doesn't take place anywhere near the United States and none of the characters are American.
The writing is very heavy on narration, none of the characters feel three-dimensional. The romance between Karina and her ship's doctor was not believable and when Karina turns, shall we say, "paranormal" on page 89, this book was over for this reader who skimmed through the remaining pages. A female haunting a bunch of random Antarctic explorers is hardly a page-turner. Now you understand the title.
Twenty-four chapters, 246 pages there is no swearing, no gore or violence and even the one scene of lovemaking between Karina and her doctor is pretty unremarkable. He turns out to have a wife, much to Karina's dismay, which is why the rest of the book was so unsatisfying. The author was more determined to paint a wordy picture of an angry female heroine who never succeeded in her avenging-the author might've given her heroine SOME kind of denouement! Having never read anything by this author before, I'm afraid I have no desire to ever do so again.
I suggest the author watch the classic movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" before attempting to write any more "historical fiction with a paranormal twist" stories.
At first glance, this is the stuff Harlequin paperbacks are made of.
Or at least really good historical fiction.
This book turned out to be neither.
Karina (called Karl until she's discovered) was abandoned by her husband on the sparsely populated island in the South Atlantic where she grew up which is why she was forced to stow away. Her nationality is Dutch. With her fair hair and blue eyes, she's much too pretty to be a boy, and too good a cook in the galley kitchen where she is put to work to not have been discovered sooner. Good thing the doctor waited until he knew her true gender before trying to sleep with her.
The only reason to read this book is because it doesn't take place anywhere near the United States and none of the characters are American.
The writing is very heavy on narration, none of the characters feel three-dimensional. The romance between Karina and her ship's doctor was not believable and when Karina turns, shall we say, "paranormal" on page 89, this book was over for this reader who skimmed through the remaining pages. A female haunting a bunch of random Antarctic explorers is hardly a page-turner. Now you understand the title.
Twenty-four chapters, 246 pages there is no swearing, no gore or violence and even the one scene of lovemaking between Karina and her doctor is pretty unremarkable. He turns out to have a wife, much to Karina's dismay, which is why the rest of the book was so unsatisfying. The author was more determined to paint a wordy picture of an angry female heroine who never succeeded in her avenging-the author might've given her heroine SOME kind of denouement! Having never read anything by this author before, I'm afraid I have no desire to ever do so again.
I suggest the author watch the classic movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" before attempting to write any more "historical fiction with a paranormal twist" stories.
August 8, 2019
Sara Sheridan’s The Ice Maiden is a remarkable tale: we gain fresh perspective into what it was like to be a seafarer’s wife, a woman on board ship, and a part of pioneering Polar expeditions.
The Ice Maiden is told in three distinct parts: one land-based, the next at sea, and the last of which is ice bound.
We first meet Karina on Deception Island. And although the name refers to it looking deceptively like an island, when in fact it’s a ring around a flooded caldera, could there be a more sinister-sounding place than Deception Island? It doesn’t bode well.
This ominous start and her life on Deception Island help explain why she takes the drastic next step in finding a way off the island. Her route out of there particularly fraught at a time when sailors were superstitious about women being on board ship, believing they brought bad luck, but of course this wasn’t the only way in which a woman’s presence could unsettle the men.
Life at sea is exceptionally hard and Sara Sheridan does an excellent job of bringing this working ship to life, with all the knocks, noise, smells and challenges of living in cramped quarters while being at the mercy of the elements. I was relieved when Karina finds some small measure of happiness and protection here, even though I sensed it would not last the voyage.
For the third and final act, Sara Sheridan steers her story towards the Antarctic and I felt the full force of her descriptive powers in this section. I could picture the frozen landmass so clearly: brutal, unforgiving, shifting, peaceful, lonely, inhospitable, stark but striking in an otherworldly way.
Sara Sheridan effects a sudden switch in the story here, which initially left me reeling and struggling to come to terms with what had just happened. But I trusted her storytelling skills and went with the shift in mood and atmosphere. There’s an ethereal, wraithlike quality to this section of the book, and Karina, which feels bound up in the landscape; both as majestic and menacing as the ice itself.
The Ice Maiden is told in three distinct parts: one land-based, the next at sea, and the last of which is ice bound.
We first meet Karina on Deception Island. And although the name refers to it looking deceptively like an island, when in fact it’s a ring around a flooded caldera, could there be a more sinister-sounding place than Deception Island? It doesn’t bode well.
This ominous start and her life on Deception Island help explain why she takes the drastic next step in finding a way off the island. Her route out of there particularly fraught at a time when sailors were superstitious about women being on board ship, believing they brought bad luck, but of course this wasn’t the only way in which a woman’s presence could unsettle the men.
Life at sea is exceptionally hard and Sara Sheridan does an excellent job of bringing this working ship to life, with all the knocks, noise, smells and challenges of living in cramped quarters while being at the mercy of the elements. I was relieved when Karina finds some small measure of happiness and protection here, even though I sensed it would not last the voyage.
For the third and final act, Sara Sheridan steers her story towards the Antarctic and I felt the full force of her descriptive powers in this section. I could picture the frozen landmass so clearly: brutal, unforgiving, shifting, peaceful, lonely, inhospitable, stark but striking in an otherworldly way.
Sara Sheridan effects a sudden switch in the story here, which initially left me reeling and struggling to come to terms with what had just happened. But I trusted her storytelling skills and went with the shift in mood and atmosphere. There’s an ethereal, wraithlike quality to this section of the book, and Karina, which feels bound up in the landscape; both as majestic and menacing as the ice itself.
August 5, 2018
A ship full of adventuring men didn’t expect a woman stowaway on their journey to the South Pole. Somehow she makes a life for herself among the crew and in the heart of their doctor. She even finds happiness amidst the frozen wilderness.
And that’s when it goes badly for her. Karina a brave explorer in her own right, will not be named in the history books. And yet her spirit will know cold, white land more intimately than any of the brave men who dared to reach it.
This is not a happy book. It’s cold and lonely, just like Antarctica. I appreciate that we see a bold woman’s perspective during a time when women and their thoughts were typically cast aside.
But to be honest, it was quite boring at times. And Karina’s fate is so depressing it was hard to keep reading.
Thanks NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for the ARC.
And that’s when it goes badly for her. Karina a brave explorer in her own right, will not be named in the history books. And yet her spirit will know cold, white land more intimately than any of the brave men who dared to reach it.
This is not a happy book. It’s cold and lonely, just like Antarctica. I appreciate that we see a bold woman’s perspective during a time when women and their thoughts were typically cast aside.
But to be honest, it was quite boring at times. And Karina’s fate is so depressing it was hard to keep reading.
Thanks NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for the ARC.
April 20, 2025
I have mixed feelings about this book. The story begins in 1842 on Deception Island in the South Atlantic where Karina Lande who is starving after the death of her husband and has now given up hope of her sister sending money to enable her to get back to Europe. In desperation Karina puts on her dead husband's clothes and stows away on a British ship. When she is discovered she makes herself useful by working in the galley but to her dismay finds she is heading south on a mission to map Antarctica. Eventually she is outed as a woman and she forms a relationship with one of the officers. So far, so good. Then she dies and the rest of the book deals with her spirit / ghost watching various expeditions to Antarctica. There is a lot of historical information and it is very readable but it is a strange mixture.
October 12, 2019
Although I was interested in reading about the quest and determination to be the first to reach the South Pole, the back story was lacking substance. The story started out almost believable with a stowaway. But come on! An already starving person would not last 4 days with no food or water. Then, when Karina died and became a ghost! That was just too much. I get that the author needed to have a way to spam the length of time necessary to cover from the first time the maps were drawn of the Antarctic to the placing of the flag at the South Pole. I just didn’t like the way he did it. The historical part of the book was totally fascinating.
January 15, 2019
Karina hid as a stowaway on an outgoing ship to escape her miserable life. Her husband did not return from the sea and she was left with no financial support. She was hoping to pass as a boy and work for her lodging and food. When Karina was discovered, events played out as she hoped until circumstances revealed she was not what they thought. From here on out even the reader is in for a few surprises.
March 9, 2019
This story started out really interesting, as a destitute woman stows away on a ship that was not bound for home, but for Antarctica. She is disguised as a boy, but ultimately is discovered. It was really interesting until about halfway, when there is a twist to the story. It was more difficult to read after that. Overall, a nice mix of fact and fiction and I enjoyed reading about Antarctic explorers and crew where names and stories were familiar.
May 9, 2021
I have long been fascinated with Antarctica and the early Antarctic expeditions. If you are similarly interested, you will likely enjoy this book. I enjoyed the supernatural element and was moved by Karina’s thoughts and interactions with various crews. There were many characters, and although it was sometimes hard to keep track of them all, I enjoyed discovering their various ambitions and flaws. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!
November 23, 2018
I love adventure stories, particularly those involving Shackleton. This one has a strange twist, time warped and welded into unrecognizable shapes. And the land, the ice, the horrible uncontrolled danger of every moment in the harshness of always winter. A beautiful story, and the very best questions I have ever seen in a reader's guide. Delightful.
December 9, 2018
Three and a half stars I reckon. Thought the beginning and the end were great, but there was something about the middle bit that made me stall a while. Probably me. Really liked hearing about the challenges of both the place and the personalities.
March 22, 2019
What an interesting book. Is it truly being flawed that gives us our humanity? Took me a bit to get past the authors take on the afterlife but it was intriguing. I enjoyed the testament to the spirit of adventure and conquering the elements. I’d recommend this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2019
Well I started off loving this book. It felt like a cracking historical read with a woman stowed away on a ship set for Antarctica. However when the “extraordinary” event occurred ,it was not what I expected and disappointed I stopped reading the book. I rarely give up on books but hey ho.
March 2, 2019
It was interesting, as Antarctica is generally forgotten.
April 8, 2019
A really wild plot turn! I loved it.
July 20, 2019
I couldn't get past the first chapter. I think it had more to do with having previously watched the miniseries The Terror. I couldn't separate the two.
May 29, 2024
Enjoyed book until ending when, for me, got very silly
Some interesting facts in between
Some interesting facts in between
August 30, 2018
The story is set initially in 1842 when Karina stows away on a boat leaving Deception Island. She's destitute and hungry, owing money here and there since her husband went missing at sea. She dresses as a boy and sneaks onboard a boat she believes is bound for England for onward journey to her sister in Amsterdam. But, the ship is bound for the chilling and unforgiving Antarctica.
It's soon discovered that she's a woman and she forms a friendship with the ship's surgeon, Joseph Hooker. Life on board is tough and fascinating to read about. There's a twist in the tale which shocked me and took me a while to get used to. Karina is brave, plucky, passionate, impatient and wants it all. She's a great character. The fact interwoven into the story is an expedition - the Voyage of Discovery and the attempt to take the South Pole by Scott and Shackleton. I absolutely loved the story and would highly recommend.
It's soon discovered that she's a woman and she forms a friendship with the ship's surgeon, Joseph Hooker. Life on board is tough and fascinating to read about. There's a twist in the tale which shocked me and took me a while to get used to. Karina is brave, plucky, passionate, impatient and wants it all. She's a great character. The fact interwoven into the story is an expedition - the Voyage of Discovery and the attempt to take the South Pole by Scott and Shackleton. I absolutely loved the story and would highly recommend.
March 16, 2019
I debated whether to read this one. I'm not much on drama type historical books and that's what it seemed like from the cover and the blurb. Then I read the "A historical adventure with a paranormal twist" label that it has. Okay, now we are talking!
The story begins with Karina sneaking through the dark. We learn bits and pieces of her backstory as we go. Karina's husband, Thebo leaves her to go whaling. He doesn't make it home. She's hit rock bottom. She's alone. She's starving. She's asked her sister, who lives in Amsterdam with her merchant husband, to send her money so that she can join them there. The money never comes. Karina decides that her only option is to stow away. Any ship will do as long as it gets her out of there. She cuts her hair and dresses in her husband's boots and off she goes.
I loved the first 1/3 of this book. I liked Karina's character. She's not a dominant personality but she has grit and determination. She's not a complete doormat but still keeps her head low. Her life aboard the ship and her interaction with all her shipmates, even once her presence and her true identity were discovered, was an entertaining story.
The twist in the plot surprised me. I was excited to see where the paranormal skew would lead. Unfortunately, everything that followed was unsatisfying. I couldn't get into the ensuing tale. None of the new characters struck a chord with me. I didn't enjoy the metamorphosis of Karina's character. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more without the paranormal twist.
The story begins with Karina sneaking through the dark. We learn bits and pieces of her backstory as we go. Karina's husband, Thebo leaves her to go whaling. He doesn't make it home. She's hit rock bottom. She's alone. She's starving. She's asked her sister, who lives in Amsterdam with her merchant husband, to send her money so that she can join them there. The money never comes. Karina decides that her only option is to stow away. Any ship will do as long as it gets her out of there. She cuts her hair and dresses in her husband's boots and off she goes.
I loved the first 1/3 of this book. I liked Karina's character. She's not a dominant personality but she has grit and determination. She's not a complete doormat but still keeps her head low. Her life aboard the ship and her interaction with all her shipmates, even once her presence and her true identity were discovered, was an entertaining story.
The twist in the plot surprised me. I was excited to see where the paranormal skew would lead. Unfortunately, everything that followed was unsatisfying. I couldn't get into the ensuing tale. None of the new characters struck a chord with me. I didn't enjoy the metamorphosis of Karina's character. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more without the paranormal twist.
June 5, 2019
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
I was expecting a straight up romantic tale, but The Ice Maiden was more a historical adventure with a touch of bittersweet romance. Despite that, I enjoyed it very much because I just so happened to be somewhat familiar with some early polar explorers; that and having watched AMC's miniseries The Terror gave me a good idea of what conditions were like for them. Halfway through the book, Karina's situation changes drastically, switching the tone for the remainder of the story, one that has her grappling with anger, betrayal, and eventually understanding, then acceptance. The paranormal twist is a really nice touch. It wasn't what I anticipated, yet it made a significant impression on me, and it had me doing more than a few internet searches for more information. I got a huge kick, too, that the ships involved were the infamous Terror and Erebus, two vessels that have their own tragic outcomes in seafaring history, though this story takes place just prior to that time. The Ice Maiden is different, yet in this case, different is surprising good.
I was expecting a straight up romantic tale, but The Ice Maiden was more a historical adventure with a touch of bittersweet romance. Despite that, I enjoyed it very much because I just so happened to be somewhat familiar with some early polar explorers; that and having watched AMC's miniseries The Terror gave me a good idea of what conditions were like for them. Halfway through the book, Karina's situation changes drastically, switching the tone for the remainder of the story, one that has her grappling with anger, betrayal, and eventually understanding, then acceptance. The paranormal twist is a really nice touch. It wasn't what I anticipated, yet it made a significant impression on me, and it had me doing more than a few internet searches for more information. I got a huge kick, too, that the ships involved were the infamous Terror and Erebus, two vessels that have their own tragic outcomes in seafaring history, though this story takes place just prior to that time. The Ice Maiden is different, yet in this case, different is surprising good.
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