'An epic tale of exploration, daring and tragedy told by a fine historian - and a wonderful writer' – Peter Frankopan, author of the bestselling The Silk Roads. 

'The name of William Barents isn’t that familiar to us these days…but this enthralling, elemental and literally spine-chilling epic of courage and endurance should change all that’ – Roger Alton, Daily Mail

‘Gripping … One of the great epics of human endurance’ – Mail on Sunday

A riveting tale of Dutch polar explorer William Barents and his three harrowing Arctic expeditions – the last of which resulted in a relentlessly challenging year-long fight for survival.

The human story has always been one of perseverance – often against remarkable odds. The most astonishing survival tale of all might be that of sixteenth-century Dutch explorer William Barents and his crew, who ventured further north than any Europeans before and, on their third polar expedition, lost their ship off the frozen coast of Nova Zembla to unforgiving ice. The men would spend the next year fighting off ravenous polar bears, gnawing hunger and endless winter.

In Icebound, Andrea Pitzer masterfully combines a gripping tale of survival with a sweeping history of the great Age of Exploration – a time of hope, adventure and seemingly unlimited geographic frontiers.