In 1799, a polar expedition discovers an open sea further north than any man has sailed before, but it is not enough for the captain, and the voyage turns deadly. A gothic novel of loyalty, love, and the stories people tell themselves to survive, told from six clouded perspectives.

FROM THE NOVEL

The deep, heavy blue of the sea rose to meet the blue of the sky without a seam. The two colours matched so perfectly they erased the horizon, and the Elegy seemed to have escaped the known world completely.

“Is this—?” Walton started.

“The Open Polar Sea,” Blight said.

So many men had failed to reach the iceless waters of the north that some had begun to doubt such a thing was possible, but now they had made it there, beyond every obstacle. Not a single shard of ice between Walton and the pole.

“He will try to stop us,” Blight said.

“Who’s going to try to stop us?”

“God.”

Walton had thought he meant the shipowner, Mr. Hale.

Blight turned to him directly then and whispered, even though they were alone, a hundred feet above deck, “We’re nearing Eden now.”