August, 1616. The whaling ship Heartsease has ventured high into the Arctic, but now must begin the long journey home. Only one man stays behind: Thomas Cave makes a wager to remain here, alone, until the next season. Cave pits himself against blizzards, avalanches, bears - and his own demons. His past returns to him: the woman he had loved.

Reissue of the historical novel set in the Arctic wildnerness, with a new jacket to tie in with the publication of the paperback edition of "The Spy Game".

'Divine and mesmerising ... rouses the spirits of Defoe, Hawthorne and R. L. Stevenson'