My Last Continent

A Novel

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Pub Date 21 Jun 2016 | Archive Date 21 Jun 2016

Description

An unforgettable debut with an irresistible love story, My Last Continent is a big-hearted, propulsive novel set against the dramatic Antarctic landscape—“original and entirely authentic love story” (Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project).

It is only at the end of the world—among the glacial mountains, cleaving icebergs, and frigid waters of Antarctica—where Deb Gardner and Keller Sullivan feel at home. For the few blissful weeks they spend each year studying the habits of emperor and Adélie penguins, Deb and Keller can escape the frustrations and sorrows of their separate lives and find solace in their work and in each other. But Antarctica, like their fleeting romance, is tenuous, imperiled by the world to the north.

A new travel and research season has just begun, and Deb and Keller are ready to play tour guide to the passengers on the small expedition ship that ferries them to their research destination. But this year, Keller fails to appear on board. Then, shortly into the journey, Deb’s ship receives an emergency signal from the Australis, a cruise liner that has hit desperate trouble in the ice-choked waters of the Southern Ocean. Soon Deb’s role will change from researcher to rescuer; among the crew of that sinking ship, Deb learns, is Keller.

As Deb and Keller’s troubled histories collide with this catastrophic present, Midge Raymond’s phenomenal novel takes us on a voyage deep into the wonders of the Antarctic and the mysteries of the human heart. My Last Continent is packed with emotional intelligence and high stakes—a harrowing, searching novel of love and loss in one of the most remote places on earth, a land of harsh beauty where even the smallest missteps have tragic consequences—“Half adventure, half elegy, and wholly recommended” (Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves).

An unforgettable debut with an irresistible love story, My Last Continent is a big-hearted, propulsive novel set against the dramatic Antarctic landscape—“original and entirely authentic love story”...


Available Editions

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ISBN 9781501124709
PRICE $26.00 (USD)

Average rating from 57 members


Featured Reviews

Antarctica. The word conjures up visions of glaciers, howling wind and barren, desolate, frozen wasteland. For Deb Garner and Keller Sullivan, it is the place they are happiest. A place where the rest of the world, and their lives fade away, leaving the two of them, for a few short weeks each year, the chance to study the indigenous penguins, and to be with each other. This year, as usual, Deb wait aboard the ship that will transport she and Keller to their home base for the next few weeks. Deb is concerned when Keller fails to show and the ship sails without him. Shortly after leaving, Deb’s ship gets an emergency signal from a passenger ship is dire trouble on the Southern Ocean. The ship is sinking, and Deb soon learns that one of the crewmen aboard the doomed vessel is Keller. As Deb and her expedition ship race to the site, she is prepared to do whatever she can to rescue Keller, but is she also prepared to accept the worst? I’m not sure what part of this book I liked best, the descriptions of a vast frozen world at the bottom of the world, or the story of Deb and Keller. I guess it doesn’t really matter, because together, they made for an unforgettable book. Highly recommended

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This paean to our most mysterious continent uses the relationship between two researchers and the sinking of a passenger liner in the Antarctic ice to frame a tale in which the beauty and danger of life in the far south is made indelible for the reader. Although told in the first person, the main character here is most definitely Antarctica.

Deb Gardner, a penguin specialist and college professor, pays for her research trips by working as a tour guide and naturalist on a the Cormorant, a smallish tour boat plying Antarctica waters during the summer season. Several years before the shipwreck in question she meets Keller Sullivan, a grieving man who is going to McMurdo to do scut work, but he becomes so entranced by the birds and Antarctica itself that he signs on to overwinter. Their relationship continues from there in fits and starts, with them spending time together on research trips but on opposite coasts doing other jobs the rest of the year. It's unclear even to them if it's each other or Antarctica they love more. In the year of the shipwreck, Deb learns that Keller is working on the Australis, a large cruise ship, not built to withstand ice, which is making a rogue run into the uncertain waters near the coast. When the call comes that the cruise ship is going down, the Cormorant attempts a rescue. Keller's fate is uncertain.

The story moves back and forth across time, with each jump to the present bringing the story closer to the shipwreck. This is a bit distracting sometimes, especially as the shipwreck gets closer, but in the end it turns our to have been an effective tool. Great attention is paid to the destruction of penguin life and colonies by climate change and the human presence and, in fact, the reason Keller is on the Australis this year is because he caused such a ruckus with an uneducated tourist the previous year that he was not rehired for the Cormorant's current season. The rescue effort carried out by Cormorant staff, none of whom are trained for this type of thing, is beautifully and terrifyingly wrought.

If you love Antarctica or penguins, this gently-told novel is for you.

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I know more about Antarctica now than I did before. It is a love story between Deb and Keller but more importantly a love affair with nature itself. Like many stories I have read recently there are a lot of flashbacks leading to the present (I am not a fan of this usually) but it has a purpose here. Both Deb and Keller have their reasons for fleeing their lives, connected more to the dangerous beauty of their surroundings than the problems or devastation back home. They find in each other an anchor in a place that can take your life and yet preserve that moment in ice forever. It explains why people take such risks to explore Antarctica, even if they don't quite understand it themselves. And it is a violent, remote place where when danger strikes you can only rely on yourself and your crew. Tragedy strikes, Keller is among the missing, Deb has to put her terror aside, risk her very life to find him and rescue others. Antarctica may have different plans for Deb and Keller's love life. What I enjoyed most is feeling immersed in nature with the characters, and that what happens ended just as it should. It was a beautiful story. I experienced a bit of fernweh myself reading My Last Continent.

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Full of surprises, full of information on environmental issues in the Arctic. It was a compelling story that lasted through the final pages.

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“I wake to the serenade of penguins reuniting nearby – sounds of love and hope and optimism, spoken in a language that science will never be able to decipher, yet one I feel as though I can understand.”
For so many of us Antarctica is literally that last continent – and one that many of us will never get to see. Only a handful of scientists and researchers can choose to spend their time there, although there are artists and writers programmes available to a few. Others can voyage there in cryuse ships and spend a few days on the lip of that vast iced continent. In this mesmerising novel, Antarctica is both backdrop, plot and a large looming character in the lives of the protagonists. Soliary, people-aversive Deb Gardner travels there to study the habits of emperor and Adélie penguins, and meets Keller Sullivan. They come together for a few short weeks – but each live on opposite sides of the United States, and making a home together isn’t easy. The story shifts between past and present – telling the story of Deb and Keller’s love over the years against the backdrop of the present. Deb is aboard a small ship as a tour guide on the way to Antarctica. Keller, disgraced the previous year by an outburst, does not appear on board. Instead he’s travelling to the continent on a large, very eco-unfriendly cruise ship – one that soon spins into trouble in the icy Southern Ocean, an ocean it was not built for. As disaster looms, the story loops back into the past, before returning to the trauma that awaits Deb and Keller and the doomed cruise ship.
This is a story both about the fragility of that vast ice continent, of the dangers of bringing too many humans into this vulnerable world, as well as our own fragility, especially prominent when we choose to love. A highly recommended novel that combines page-turning narration with prose that celebrates this continent. Raymond’s description of the continent are beautiful and poetic: “Late one afternoon, when he has the day off, we stretch out in the blinding light ... and we listen to the whistling of the wind across the ice and the cries of the birds. I savor the utter silence under those sounds; there is nothing else to hear.”

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This is a beautifully written novel mainly because of it’s descriptions of ice and wildlife in Antarctica. There is truly a love triangle between Deb, Keller and Antarctica. The love story and the disaster are as epic as Titanic as written and is riveting and heartbreaking. I actually cried while reading which I rarely do. I loved learning about the penguins and the ecosystem which is a good part of the novel. It tells the story in flashbacks which were a little uneven, but the story is strong, romantic and adventurous. Get on the reserve list at your library to borrow this one or pre-order if you like books about Antarctica or are an armchair traveler.

Provided by NetGalley

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It was World Penguin Day when I started reading My Last Continent by Midge Raymond. I had not realized how perfectly timed my choice was. Raymond's novel is a love story, the love between star crossed lovers and their mutual love of penguins and the Antarctic.

from the author's blog

Deb and Keller are penguin researchers whose love affair flourishes only during their brief weeks together in Antarctica. Their off-season work is on opposites sides of the county, Driven by their need to make a difference and to save the penguins, both are willing to risk everything, even their lives and each other.

Shadows of Antarctic explorers are seen everywhere, foreshadowing the novel's climax.The ghosts of lonely deaths haunt the desolate landscape. Robert Falcon Scott's hut stands undisturbed. "I may be some time," said Capt. Oates as he left the tent shared with his imperiled Scott expedition explorers. He never returned. Deb's lover in passing, Dennis, likewise wandered off to his lonely death after being left behind by his tour boat.

The solitude of the icy desert, the isolation, soothes Deb. Part of Deb wants and needs solitude. Part of her fears dying alone. The memory of an emperor penguin who died alone haunts Deb. Female emperors lay an egg and leaves it under the male's care while she takes off to fatten up for nursing the chick. The males huddle together during the long months of darkness until nearly starved. Human males aren't programmed like the emperors. Before meeting Keller Deb had been alone, for what male was going to wait at home while she took off every year?

"Great God! This is an awful place," Robert Scott wrote in his journal. Tragedy comes into Deb's life and for the first time she realizes the depth of despair that prompted Scott's desperate cry. Keller's ship has hit an iceberg and is sinking and Deb is compelled to search for her beloved mate in the thrilling climax of the novel.

Antarctica is more than the backdrop for the novel, it is a living character. A hundred years ago the explorers vied to be the 'first'; today tourists tick it off as the last of continent visited. The environmental destruction and pollution that comes with tourism, overfishing, and climate change, all endanger the penguins. Raymond manages to educate readers through the characters and the action.

I loved this book. It is so original in concept and the writing is beautiful.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

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Deb Gardner has preferred the company of penguins to people for most of her adult life. She spends as much time as nature and her funding allow, at least several weeks per year, in Antarctica, researching and counting penguins and tolerating the relatively few other humans with whom she is forced to interact. While her research is funded, her travel relies on sharing space and job duties on board a small ship that caters to wealthy passengers wanting to see Antarctica for various reasons. While she does seem comfortable educating the passengers as part of her job, they mostly appear to be a frustrating reminder to her of the ignorance and indifference about climate change science, especially as related to her continent and its penguins.

When Keller Sullivan first appears on the continent he's been hired as a dish washer, but he takes an immediate interest in Deb's work, offering to tag along and help on their first meeting. Though she prefers isolation, Keller's looks, personality and his genuine interest in her penguins causes Deb to break from her standard operating procedure and she allows him along. She eventually learns that he is no ordinary dish washer and that he'd been a successful attorney in Boston, married and a father to a young daughter but that tragedy had changed his circumstances. A romance develops, as apparently they often do on the continent, even among the married, but when the season ends Deb finds that Keller will be staying instead of returning to Oregon with her as planned and they are indefinitely separated during which time she has finally been able to mostly forget him.

Of course, a love story requires that they meet again, and now Keller has become a peer, having returned to school to procure an advanced degree and has been hired to work on the same project as Deb. Their romance is sparked anew and it's here that the novel begins to fill in their back stories and the more complete truths about how they each ended up preferring the isolation at Earth's end.

Looming from the book's earliest pages is the knowledge that a very serious accident once occurred on a massive cruise ship which sank during an effort to impress passengers with its ability to dip south and offer a glance of the last continent. The reader knows that this event is coming and that significant loss of life occurs. The reader also knows that Deb was witness to it, creating an almost tangible fog of angst throughout the read that steadily builds as more details are revealed. In fact the final 1/4 of this literary fiction skirts the border of thriller, probably crossing that line once or twice along the way and earning the old cliche of "un-put-downable".

At its heart, My Last Continent is a novel about human relationships but, not by accident, almost everything learned here can also be applied to the continent and to the earth as a whole. At times, the symbolism felt heavy handed and I think the novel likely set a world record for penguin related similes, but the steady reveal of back story and strong ending make for a rewarding reading experience. Don't get me wrong, the experience is at times uncomfortable as personal biases may clash with the strong opinions of the protagonists but as with all good fiction, it is in the end meant to teach us something about ourselves and here, My Last Continent succeeds.

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Words really can't express how much I enjoyed this book! It was a wonderful story about love, loss, grief and finding your way in life. It was really just a beautiful but heart-wrenching story. All the characters were so well-developed that you can't help but become attached to them and their outcome. I loved learning about the continent and also about the penguins and their plight. The imagery and the atmosphere that the author conjured was really what made the story come to life for me. Sometimes I felt like I was right there on the Antartic peninsula with them. I was so engrossed in the story I stayed up all night and read it in one sitting so if you have any interest in Antartica or penguins or just enjoy a good story about life in general then don't pass up this book!

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I love getting lost in new settings. I get bored reading the same descriptions of New York, of Los Angeles, of places that I’ve been to before or have seen through the eyes of a thousand different authors. So what originally grabbed me was My Last Continent‘s setting. I had no idea how heartbreaking the novel would be.

The story itself is based on love, but more than just the love between two people as NetGalley’s summary suggests. Deb Gardner finds it difficult to love humans, but has no problem loving and protecting the animals that live in the Antarctic—a place that is quickly becoming more dangerous for animals to live in the more humans use the continent as a tourist destination. As tenuous as Deb’s love of Keller is, so to is the relationship between human and nature.

My Last Continent is a cautionary tale that is surrounded by beautiful writing, thriller aspects, and a heart-breaking love story. It’s a clear look at what damage we’re doing to ourselves when we deny ourselves the things that we want most in life. Raymond also paints a picture of the damage humans are doing to the planet, even to remote areas like the Antarctic. Every decision, from where we work to what we eat, we make has a ripple effect that stretches far beyond what we could ever imagine. Raymond fills in these gaps in our imagination, showing us the real damage in an unflinching way.

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Geeeeeezzzzzz......I hate it...I love it....I hate it.... I love it....
.....damn it....I cried twice in two very specific places....
I could not put this book down... I'm shaking having just finished it....exhausted with tears in my eyes.....
I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone!!!

"One thing the animal kingdom had not yet taught me is that hope is more punishing than grief." - wow -

"One winter, I watched an Adelie penguin minding her nest during an unexpected snowstorm. Soon covered with snow herself, she didn't move. Her eggs would never hatch, and even if they did, her newborn chicks would freeze, or drown--but still she didn't leave them. Was this instinct? Or was it hope?"

Right from the start of this story we know there is going to be a horrific disaster....
The thought entered my mind...should people be in the Antarctic at all? It's a risk!
Then I remembered I watched "March of the Penguins", narrated by Morgan Freeman three times. How wonderful it was to learn about Penguins - their behaviors and to have been able to visually take in the breathtaking surroundings. I just love those little black and white flightless birds.

In Midge Raymond's novel, "The Last Continent", she deepened my respect for Antarctica - the quiet, peaceful environment , covered in ice ( the coldest, windiest, driest continent on the planet) ...composed of Penguins, whales, seals, seabirds, fish and krill)....while creating gorgeous visuals and atmosphere...making me feel I, too, was sleeping on the hard icy ground as *Deb Gardner*, (leading female character, naturalist, and Penguin expert), often preferred to do rather than sleep in a heated cabin.

*Keller Sullivan* is the leading male. His beginning journey to the Antarctic is very different from the academic science background that Deb began from. His prior history is sad...it was hard to shake for me ...wondering his deepest inner thoughts as he moved forward. Yet, he's bright..also educated ...and catches on quickly..moving from dishwasher- tag along guy to deeply dedicated Antarctic explorer and naturalist.

Keller and Deb slowly fall in love. They have a relationship a little like Penguins--each of them off on their own separate journeys until they meet again --
sharing nests reserved for their expeditions, for the peninsula, for the camps they build together. Their love for each other has as much to do with Antarctica as it does them. ( a little complicated). However...Deb has a history of not being comfortable with intimacy- (witness to crumbling marriages, love affairs, sibling rivalry, etc.) ...
Keller brings loss and grief on his plate when they meet....so in many ways they are a stable - complicated - strong love match) ....and very tenderly-beautiful when together.

I found it fascinating to experience the reality of an injured sick person in Antarctica. If they are bleeding or vomiting...it's crucial to scoop up the blood and vomit-covered snow. The Antarctic is one of the last pristine environments in the world... and great lengths must be taken to protect the animals from anything foreign. There are several scene....( stories within stories)... all very engaging.

This entire book was wonderful -- ( except for moments of hating it when I loved it TOO much)....and its probably as close as I'll ever get to Antarctica. I enjoyed reading about the habits of the Adelie and Emperor penguins. I could understand why people like Deb had a strong passion for them.

It broke my heart when Keller wished he had bought his babysitter a car. ( after you read the story ...that line will make more sense)....
and The last section of the book my stomach was in knots....yikes almighty!!!!

I had a couple of great laughs.... "Blind Hairy Yeti Crabs", anyone??? lol and
....when Keller and Deb had a dead battery- slept together - ONLY SLEPT - on the ice....I chuckle at the 'thought' of him (being a weasel) -- planning their little catastrophe....haha. ( he didn't plan it,....but he 'liked' it).

Soooo much to love about this novel. Oh wait ... I hated it - can't you tell? Haha!

Thank you to Scribner Publishing, Netgalley, and the very mean-girl ..Midge Raymond...( as now I adore her and want to read her again). Don't make me cry!!!! :)

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Thanks Scribner and netgalley for this ARC.

Beautiful descriptions of penguins, love of nature, and the losing and gaining of love in relationship to life

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My Last Continent is a beautiful, unusual love story – the love between a woman and a man, but also the love of both for the continent of Antarctica. Deb and Keller meet there, and it is where their love grows, as they observe penguin colonies and shifting icebergs. They find it easy to love while in the isolation of a snowstorm – but it is not so easy to survive as a couple in the real world. Like the penguins they study who sometimes mate for life, they are “loyal first and always to the continent.” (p. 79) While the main characters here are realistic and likeable, it is the setting and its wildlife that are the true stars of this novel.

The novel begins with a prologue titled “Afterwards,” describing a fatal shipwreck in the shifting ice floes of the waters around the Antarctic. In this future setting, Deb is guiding tourists through a penguin habitat, but all they ask her are questions about the cruise ship that sank five years before – the worst disaster in the history of the continent. The Australis lost over seven hundred passengers and crew, including several rescuers – and Deb doesn’t tell the tourists that, victim and rescuer, “we are one and the same.” (p. 3)

Chapters follow with headings such as “One Week Before Shipwreck”, continuing to build anticipation. The timeline jumps from years before to only days before the tragic event that claimed so many lives. Deb’s perspective is the main one, as we watch her relationship develop with Keller over years of seasonal travel to the Antarctic. As a research scientist, Deb spends part of every year on the southernmost continent, and feels most alive in the icy climate. Keller travels to Antarctica to escape a tragedy back home, and ends up staying in this new land where he feels truly alive. Both are obsessed with the continent and its creatures, wishing to preserve their habitat as it changes rapidly due to climate change.

To fund her research program, Deb must work as tour guide on a small vessel, the Cormorant. She tries to instill respect in her tourists, and teaches them that all of their actions and choices contribute directly to the global warming that is threatening the penguins. However, she must be careful what she says, because these people are also paying for her research. The Antarctic is imperiled by those that wish to enjoy it, seeing as the “last continent” to be crossed off their bucket list. In contrast, Deb feels like she is a part of the frozen landscape – she compares herself to her ship, saying “we are both built for the ice.” (p. 6)

The shipwreck is of course the pivotal point in the novel, and we know about it from the start, but that doesn’t take away from the thrilling aspect of the story as it slowly draws closer to the main event. The chapters, moving back and forth through time, circle around the climax, flowing like the sea around an iceberg to unavoidable catastrophe. When it finally happens, the descriptions are sensational, cinematic and shocking. The author clearly develops the stark isolation of the landscape, making the chaos of the shipwreck all the more dramatic compared to the surrounding lack of sensory input. The strength of this novel truly is the setting.

This is a quiet love story combined with an intense environmental thriller. The reader is immersed in the natural world, then that world is shattered by a major disaster – and not only for the human victims of the wreck. Deb’s first concern is that the remnants of the ship, as it slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean, will destroy the natural habitat at an even more rapid speed than climate change. The author clearly has an agenda here – her passion for the Antarctic is a warning that we have to live with care to preserve this mostly unexplored world. The descriptions of wildlife are sometimes lengthy, but I still enjoyed them because the information is just so interesting.

Even with its many themes and concepts, the novel flowed smoothly and I loved reading it – I really couldn’t put it down. The love between Deb and Keller is realistic and believable, but it is their love for the Antarctic that makes this novel so special.

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I was asked by the publisher to compare My Last Continent with another forthcoming novel: Arturo Perez-Reverte’s What We Become. Both involve intense love affairs that develop from sporadic meetings over the course of many years – Deb and Keller in My Last Continent, and Max and Mecha in What We Become. When they are reunited in the present, both couples are faced with a climactic event that shakes their relationship to its core. For Deb and Keller, it makes them stronger – their love is stripped to the basics and they learn what really matters in life. For Max and Mecha, current circumstances pull them apart, and they realize that their love may have been based on excitement and danger all along, with no real basis. And while both novels are large in scope, My Last Continent also delves into the minutiae of life, the details that make a real love story. In contrast, What We Become is epic in scale, but it doesn’t reach into the souls of its main characters in quite the same way. Both novels were strong, and I recommend both for summer reading, but for me, My Last Continent was a much more enjoyable read that I connected with on a deeper level.

I received this novel from Scribner/Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

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This is one incredible book- it's both an adventure and a love story= and a love story in more ways than one. Deb is a very well realized and complex woman whose fascination with penguins and Antarctica have kept her focused on only those two things until she meets Keller- who is running from and to Antarctica for his own reasons. There are some fabulous descriptions here and you'll learn something not only about Antarctica but also about the wildlife there (wait til you meet Admiral Bird!) I read this in one very long sitting and think you will too. - this was terrific!

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My Last Continent by Midge Raymond tells a haunting and very visual tale that is part love story, part naturalist message, and part epic disaster story. Set in the majestic setting of Antarctica and the beautiful penguins, the book creates characters and describes a place in a way to make me care about their outcome. All in all, a beautiful debut novel.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/06/my-last-continent.html

Reviewed based on a publisher’s galley received through NetGalley

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I did not want to put this book down. I found myself picking up the book again, just to read just a little more, just a few more pages… I was mesmerized from the start. Beautifully written, a story that hooks you from the very beginning.

While you know some facts from the start, that there will be a disaster that takes place unexpectedly, it takes away nothing from this lovely debut novel by Midge Raymond.

Deb Gardner has been going to Antarctica for years, at first for her love for the penguins and their environment, but it’s become more than that to her. This is the place where she feels most like herself, where she’s able to just be. Originally drawn to the penguins for their appearance, she has learned their ways, the importance of their partner. She loves their “ecstatic cry,” the sound they make when reunited with their partner. The months of the year when she is back in Oregon are just to allow her to be here.

And then there’s Keller Sullivan, a former practicing attorney who walked away from it all in search of something with more meaning. A life that wouldn’t remind him of his former life, and all the heartaches it included. A place so different from his life near Boston that it can’t remind him of what he’s lost.

There are multiple additional characters, passengers on the ship(s) they are on, some are also crew, their stories all add more dimension to the overall view of the dilemma regarding who (and how often) should people be visiting this area of the world.

Pub Date: 21 June 2016

Many thanks to Scribner Publishing, NetGalley and to the author Midge Raymond for providing me with an advanced copy for reading and review!

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An emotional rollercoaster that kept me hooked all the way through. Loved this story to bits!!

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3.5 I have such a huge fascination for the Antarctic continent, a place I will never visit. Plus, love reading novels set in cold climates when it is so blasted hot out.

Wonderfully descriptive writing, the cold, the ice, the glaciers, and the wonderful penguins. A love story between Deb and Keller, but it is so blended with the setting that their love for each other is entwined with their love of the Antarctic. Loved all the environmental warnings, what the changes of global warning and more tourism in these areas are costing the wildlife there and what it will eventually cost us. All done in a non preachy manner, just fitted in nicely with the structure of the plot.

A cruise ship tries to get too close to an area where they should not have been and a tragedy ensues. Held my breath for parts of this, very tense, and keep in mind this is not a Titanic type story, not written in a dramatic style, the scene itself is dramatic enough. Did doubt Deb's actions here, don't think what she did made much sense but all in all enjoyed this story very much. Also wasn't a big fan of the back and forth timeline of this one, current, past and Deb's backstory in alternating chapters, but it did not prove to be too distracting and I got used to it.

Unusual location for a love story, with gorgeous descriptions and wonderful penguins, one in particular and some courageous characters.

ARC from Netgalley.

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Studying penguins in Antarctica is what Deb Gardener does, and she does it very well. She has found something in this remote, almost inaccessible land which draws her back. Discovering that Keller Sullivan also feels drawn to Antarctica makes their relationship blossom, however short their time together may be. A dramatic, unforeseen circumstance will also affect them. Breathtaking and well-researched, I recommend this book.

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I received an advanced reading copy of this publication in exchange for an honest review.

Every now and then a book comes along that is just a little something different, and it completely blows you away. My Last Continent is one of those books.

The story takes place mainly in Antarctica, a place I've never had much interest in, personally. I knew two things going in - the place is damn cold, and can be damn dangerous. That's enough to thwart my interests. But Midge Raymond has managed to completely turn my ideas around, and open my eyes to what a beautiful & peaceful continent it really is. And while I still can't say I'm likely to ever step foot there myself, this book has left me absolutely floored and mesmerized by one of Earth's gems.

The book is narrated by Deb Gardner, our main character. Deb is a researcher who travels Antarctica to gather all the information she can on the different species of penguins and wildlife that inhabit the land. While society has certainly painted the arctic to be a barren and lonely place, it is here where Deb feels most at peace with herself. It is her home.

Over the years a romance has developed between Deb and another volunteer she has met on her travels, named Keller. Deb and Keller both have their own sets of baggage, and their relationship is a little complicated - connecting when they are working, but going home to their separate lives. Each season the two reconnect and are drawn together, much like the penguins they are so fond of.

On this particular trip, however, the two are faced with a crisis when a cruise ship gets a little too off its course and hits ice during its tourist travels. Faced with an emergency situation so far from the rest of the world, Deb fears their lives could be changed forever.

This book has you on the edge of your seat throughout. It's such an emotional journey. I don't think I have felt so close to a character like Deb in such a long time. The language in this novel is so eloquent, the smaller stories within the larger story reads so poetically. Raymond has done such a phenomenal job painting the beauty of this continent, and putting it into a way we can all understand.

I love the relationship between Deb and Keller. It just feels so real. It's not perfect. The two come with their own emotional baggage, but they make things work the best they can, the only way they know how. Each of their meetings was like a precious gift, and it really drives home the end of this book for you.

"I reach over and touch his hand, still wrapped around the glass, his skin rough and wind-chapped, and I think of how Antarctica toughens you up, how maybe this was what he wanted - maybe this is what we all want - to build calluses over old wounds."

I also really like how this book managed to be informative and bring awareness to issues that effect our Earth and Antarctica as well, but in a way that didn't feel preachy. This beautiful portrait she paints of Antarctica will have you feeling just a tad guilty, but the right amount to want to make some positive change so we can preserve such a wondrous place; touching on topics like over fishing, global warming, and effects of tourism.

If you're looking for the next book to sweep you off your feet, pick up My Last Continent. You won't be disappointed.

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"One thing the animal kingdom had not yet taught me is that hope is more punishing than grief.

We don't know much about animals' capacity for hope. We do know that they grieve, that they are joyful and playful and mischievous and clever. We've seen animals work together toward a common goal, and we've seen them use tools to get what they want. Despite what many believe, they are not so different from us."

Deb Gardner would much rather spend time with penguins than with people. Her job as a research scientist keeps her in the Antarctic most of the year, which suits her just fine. But through her years on the job, she's seeing the changes. The changes in the temperatures and the ice. The changes in the penguin colonies. And the changes in the boats travelling to Antarctica. The continent at the bottom of the world that used to only see a couple hundred scientists each year is now seeing a couple *thousand* tourists each year as more and more people want to check Antarctica off their bucket lists.

This book took me by surprise. I loved the timeliness of the environmental message, which delivered an impact without being overdone. I loved the depth of the characters -- seeing their humanity and vulnerability. I loved Raymond's gorgeous descriptions of the Antarctic landscape and the playful description of the penguins. And I loved the love story that was buried within the larger story. Not at all overwrought, yet grabbed me by the heart and wouldn't let go.

4.5 stars.

Thank you to Scriber and NetGalley for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Flawlessly written, gorgeous structure and the science that went into this book is nothing short of amazing. Midge Raymond at once gives us a delightful inside look at the penguins of Antartica--which in itself is spellbinding--and then adds layer of deep character profiles, a horrible tragedy and a love story that is real without being sentimental and sappy. A beautiful, beautiful book, I loved it. --Laurie Notaro

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I know this isn’t my usual reviewing genre, but I just loved this book SO much that I just had to try to put it into words and share with you all so you can enjoy it yourself. This is a contemporary set story with romantic elements, and while the greater story arc does revolve around the relationship between two characters, it didn’t read like your typical romance – you know where you know there will be a happily ever after no matter what and the wooing and pursuit of the other person. I didn’t even realize it was categorized as a romance when I selected this title, I was simply excited about the vastly different setting of Antarctica and was drawn in by the prospect of the looming disaster of a ship sinking.

One of the things you will notice right from the start is that it is not told in a linear nature, but rather each chapter is a point in time relative to the sinking of the Australis (ie. 5 months before the sinking, 3 days before the sinking). You may jump for a point in Deb’s life 10 years before the sinking to 5 hours before the sinking in the next chapter and then back to 2 years before. While I can sometimes find this style of jumping all over the timeline to be confusing, especially if they just title the chapters with dates, this worked here. I was easily able to follow where Deb was in her life and how it built upon what she would be experiencing the closer be get to the crash or why she made certain choices that she did.

For a place that I have certainly never been anywhere near (and not experienced on the page either), Raymond brought the continent of Antarctica to vivid life. It is not a friendly place to be at all; the weather changes in an instant and you are taking your life in your hands simply traveling there. The descriptions of glacial ice, snow storms, and the frigid nature of just daily life were palpable and I was transported there within just a few pages. If the author has never travelled there I would tell you that I didn’t believe it. I think part of the intrigue for this story was simply just how exotic the setting was for me.

As to what this book is about, it’s about so many different things that it is hard to describe. The overarching story arc is the relationship between Deb and Keller and how that’s affected by their work in Antarctica and when they are apart, and don’t have that place to connect them, how their relationship changes. Scaled down a bit is the story of the changing environment of Antarctica seen through the perspective of the wildlife that lives there. Deb and Keller are researchers and are studying penguin colonies that call this frigid land home. You get a lot of information about the wildlife, but it never felt like an infodump or being too preachy about protecting the environment (even though that is there too). There are also some smaller storylines involving some of the passengers and crewmembers on the ship that Deb works from, which become important at times.

I’m going to warn you that this story will pull at your heartstrings and probably require a tissue or two. It’s one of the best books I have read recently and I would recommend it far and wide.

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Wow talk about an atmospheric book! I read this book in the summer and still felt the icy chill of the Antarctic whistle through the pages. Very impressive writing. This book is a love story, not just between Deb and Keller, but also Deb and the Antarctic. Both of which are unpredictable and capricious.

Couldn't put this book down, as is often the case with books that I love I find it difficult to write a decent review. My mind is still reeling from this emotional rollercoaster of a book. Maybe in the future I can write a coherent review of this. In the meantime feel free to check out all the other awesome reviews for this book that have been posted by much better writers than I.

Buy, Borrow or Bin Verdict: Buy (If you are not opposed to lots of time jumps)




Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

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Well written, brilliant setting, and wonderful characters. A highly recommended read for people wanting something that is just simply brilliant.

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