This image is the cover for the book Polar Wives

Polar Wives

The lives and adventures of seven intrepid women are revealed in “this gem of a book . . . as captivating as the northern landscape itself” (Portland Book Review).

Polar explorers were the superstars of the "heroic age" of exploration, a period spanning the Victorian and Edwardian eras. In Polar Wives, Kari Herbert reveals the unpredictable, often heartbreaking lives of seven remarkable women whose husbands became world-famous for their Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. As the daughter of a polar explorer, Herbert brings a unique and intimate perspective to these stories.

In her portraits of the gifted sculptor Kathleen Scott; eccentric traveler Jane Franklin; spirited poet Eleanor Anne Franklin; Jo Peary, the first white woman to travel and give birth in the High Arctic; talented and determined Emily Shackleton; Norwegian singer Eva Nansen; and her own mother, writer and pioneer Marie Herbert, Kari Herbert blends deeply personal accounts of longing, betrayal, and hope with stories of peril and adventure.

Previously consigned to historical footnotes, these pioneering women played vital roles in their husbands' expeditions. Their stories—many drawn from previously unpublished journals and letters—take us not only to the polar wastelands but also through war-torn Macedonia, the lawless outback of Australia, and the plague-riddled ancient cities of the Holy Land.

Kari Herbert, Jon Bowermaster

Kari Herbert first started travelling at the age of ten months when her father, pioneering explorer Sir Wally Herbert, took Kari and her mother, Marie, to live among the Polar Inuit on a remote island off the northwest coast of Greenland. Today, Kari is an acclaimed author, photographer, and speaker. Her work has been published in magazines and newspapers all over the world, including the Sunday Times, the Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, the Independent and the Guardian. Her first book, The Explorer's Daughter, received outstanding reviews and was chosen as Book of the Week by BBC Radio 4. It has since been translated into Danish, Dutch, Italian, and Polish. Kari Herbert is the founding director of Polarworld, an independent publishing company that produces inspirational books and projects to bring an awareness of wilderness places to a diverse audience. She lives in Cornwall, England.

D&M Publishers Inc.