THE MAN IS ALONE. He lies in a tent, pitched amid a field of boulders and stunted spruce trees. Everywhere the ground is covered with a spongy, damp moss: pale and drained of color like the man himself.
Carefully he props himself up so he can see his fire, then pulls his blanket closer. The tent, of old-fashioned balloon silk, stands with its front open to the flames. Their reds and oranges are the only warmth in the entire landscape—the only warmth left him. The man feels gently for the canvas bag at his side. He manages to pull out a notebook and stubby pencil. With his knife, he whittles a new point. It takes time; his hands are not working just right. "I am not suffering," he writes. "The acute pangs of hunger have given way to indifference. I am sleepy. I think death from starvation is not so bad..." |
"ASTONISHING ADVENTURE...that combines the grace of fiction with the power of history."
—The New York Times Book Review
"HARROWING AND ARTFULLY TOLD...a tale that combines scrupulous adherence to the evidence with a cross-cutting narration Hitchcock would have admired. Great Heart is a prose epic of Labrador.”
--The Washington Post
"A COMPELLING STORY of robust, hearty adventure—and also of rivalry, suspense, romance, and fierce loyalty. Well written, this book easily deserves a place on the shelves next to other great adventure books such as Kon Tiki and perhaps even Call of the Wild.
--The Milwaukee Journal
"A RARE CLASSIC, a literary exploration every bit the equal of the physical exploration it describes. The protagonists start by thinking they are going somewhere brand new, where no one else has ever been; the authors end by realizing that they have traveled instead into the oldest, deepest corners of the human heart.
--Bill McKibben, environmentalist
—The New York Times Book Review
"HARROWING AND ARTFULLY TOLD...a tale that combines scrupulous adherence to the evidence with a cross-cutting narration Hitchcock would have admired. Great Heart is a prose epic of Labrador.”
--The Washington Post
"A COMPELLING STORY of robust, hearty adventure—and also of rivalry, suspense, romance, and fierce loyalty. Well written, this book easily deserves a place on the shelves next to other great adventure books such as Kon Tiki and perhaps even Call of the Wild.
--The Milwaukee Journal
"A RARE CLASSIC, a literary exploration every bit the equal of the physical exploration it describes. The protagonists start by thinking they are going somewhere brand new, where no one else has ever been; the authors end by realizing that they have traveled instead into the oldest, deepest corners of the human heart.
--Bill McKibben, environmentalist
Named one of National Geographic's 100 Best Adventure Books of All Time