Questions To Ask Bradfield:

1. There are many parts of the world that have fantastic stories of discovery and are lush with both history and nature. One example that springs to mind is the Amazonian rainforest. Why does the Arctic in particular capture your attention more than other areas of the world?

2. Some would say that pretty much every inch of this world has been 'discovered' now. What kinds of explorers do you think the future could hold?

3. When there is so much ice, and cold, and loneliness, and fight for survival in what you are describing in your book, how difficult was it for you to find any warmth or human connection to show? How did you set about trying to balance the extreme loneliness of the explorers and the landscape that surrounded them with the fact that everybody– you and your audience– has some sort of human connection to them?

"Part of my fascination with the explorers is in their ability to be a lens to see how we view “new worlds” and thus how we view our own present relationship to the earth, toward discovery, toward what inhabits the places we come to."

-Elizabeth Bradfield