Due to a passing in the family a few years ago and my subsequent health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for years after the bereavement. Thank you for the opportunity.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It almost seemed like it should be two different novels. The novel was sloppy and disorganized. The first part was great. I really loved learning about Karina’s story. Then, in the second part of the novel, it took an unexpected turn and turned into a textbook. I love Mrs. Sheridan’s mysteries but this standalone really fell flat for me. However, I will continue to read more of her work.

I am currently working on expanding our school library's senior section after years of a dismal and uninspiring selection of books that our older readers never checked out. My job has been to seek out much more diverse, gripping books that will get them into reading by appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible. This really appealed to me because of its fantastic narrative and sense of atmosphere, combined with believable characterisation and its page-turning nature. It's hard to get young people into reading and if the library is not stocking the kind of book that they might grow up to buy as adult readers then we are not really meeting their needs. I can imagine this provoking lots of discussion after finishing it and a long queue of people trying to reserve it as they've heard so much about it. Will definitely be buying a copy and know that it's going to be a very popular choice. An engrossing read that kept me up far too late to finish reading it. It certainly stood out from the other books that I was considering and I look forward to converting more Sara Sheridan fans to her fantastic writing!

There's something about historical fiction set on islands that I just can't seem to get enough of. The Guernsey Potato and Literary Society and The Light Between Oceans are two wonderfully isolated stories. Author Sara Sheridan has brought us another - this time on an island of ice.

The first third of The Ice Maiden is a fairly standard historical fiction. Details have clearly been closely researched and I warmed to the characters quickly.

The story then morphs into a fascinating, heart-breaking ghost story of loss, betrayal and redemption.

Most of all, this is a story of the early Antarctic polar explorers and their fierce desire to be the first to plant a flag for their country at the South Pole.

If you're looking for a story with a strong sense of place and a very interesting theory of the afterlife, I can highly recommend The Ice Maiden. It had me Googling "Antarctic cruises" by halfway through (they're outrageously expensive, in case you're wondering). Here's a taster of the breathtaking descriptions in the novel:

"At sea, there was always an element of blue between the water and the sky but here if you turned away from the shore, the whiteness could overtake you, like stepping through a curtain. Like wrapping yourself in a frozen shroud."

Sheridan's words will make you feel the killing cold, fatal isolation and majestic beauty of the frozen continent.

At its heart this is also a love story. Rest assured there are no fading damsels here, Karina is a woman of the world and has no qualms in pursuing her chosen love. She’s bemused by his British reserve. Originally from northern Europe, Karina travelled the world with her husband before being stranded on Deception Island.

She recognises that love and hope are equally strong and have the power to change the course of our lives. The truth of this passage floored me:

"Sheepishly, she turned. Hope will make you go back, she thought. Hope was what had kept her on Deception too long. She might have stowed away on another ship. She might be home by now."

The context of the characters’ decisions is not left to reader interpretation based on our own experiences. For those of us lucky enough to live in relative 21st-century comfort, we’ve never had to make decisions based on life or death. In Antarctica most decisions are driven by survival and Sheridan makes this abundantly clear through the narrative. A false step can lead to death. Losing an item of clothing or choosing the wrong shoes will result in frostbite, amputation and possible death.

For the polar explorers though, the drive to survive is constantly underpinned by the need to be first to the pole. In the end, the desire to win will override every other instinct, even love.

I'm a sucker for the poles. I just am. There's no getting over it. I'd sell a kidney to go. Maybe....Anyway, I loved this story. I wasn't so enamoured with the love story portion, because ugh! But on the whole the rest was great. I think I liked the second half best. Seeing all the interactions with truly heroic and historic figures. I thought it was well written, and I may just read it again in a few years time. My thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for the ARC.

1842. Karina is stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic after her husband, who is a whaling captain, is lost at sea. Her hope is that her sister in Amsterdam will respond to her letter and send money for her to travel to Amsterdam. But, as the days go by and no letter arrives, Karina gets more and more desperate. So, she stows away on a British ship...

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=67010

I liked the ideas that inspired Sara Sheridan’s The Ice Maiden and appreciate the research that went into the novel, but I have to admit I found the story difficult to wrap my head around.

Like other readers, I found Part One of the novel fascinating. The Ross Expedition had no women aboard and though a little far-fetched, I thought Karina’s perspective refreshing and appreciated Sheridan’s effort to write a woman into a male-dominated chapter of world history.

That said, Parts Two and Three of the narrative didn’t work for me. The pacing of the Discovery and Terra Nova Expeditions dragged and Karina’s transformation from abandoned wife to Shakespearian Valkyrie felt sharp and abrasive.

Sheridan brings the story full circle in the final chapter, but by the time it came together I’d already checked out. I thought the author’s interpretations of Ernest Shackleton, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and Henry Robertson Bowers imaginative, but the underlying themes simply didn’t resonate with me.

Not a bad story, but not one I could get into.

This is a book of two halves. In the first section of the book (not strictly a half by quantity) we meet Karina. Her husband has died at sea & she is starving on remote Desolation Island. She stows away on a ship thinking it will take her towards her sister in Amsterdam. When Karina is discovered & put to work in the galley she finds that the ship is not quite going where she thought.

In the second half of the book we meet Shackleton and Scott on their expedition to the Antarctic. We follow the ship & the men as they make discoveries and excursions on their exploration. There is a paranormal leaning to this book as Karina plays a part in this section of the story in an unusual manner.

When I say a book of two halves I meant it in terms of my enjoyment as much as the different sections of the story. I really enjoyed the first section on board ship. The descriptions of their way of life & discoveries when they get to the edge of the antarctic are interesting. The plot is good with great characters and a romantic sub-plot. This was well written and obviously well researched and flowed well.

The second section of the book I found dull and relatively uninteresting. Karina turns into a not particularly nice character and I found it hard to have any thought or care for her. The day to day movements of the explorers got quite turgid and I totally lost interest. It wasn't the paranormal aspect which bored me but rather the fact that the book stalled on several occasions for chapters at a time and just was not going anywhere nor particularly interesting.

I think it was brave of the author to put a paranormal aspect like this into a historical novel. It could have worked but didn't. There was obviously a lot of detail concerning the explorers and Scott's expedition which should have interested me but the focus seemed to lie in the dull minutae of day to day life. I would certainly try reading another book by this author. It is obvious from the first section that they can write an interesting book and I would be happy to give them a second chance.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

The Ice Maiden by Sara Sheridan is the story of Karina a young woman who is destitute and starving after the death of her husband. She dresses as a boy and stows away on a ship to try and get back home to Sweden and her sister. She is given a job in the kitchen but is injured in an accident and then the crew discover her true identity.
I enjoyed the first half of this book. The second half was not as interesting for me.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

A ship full of adventuring men didn’t expect a woman stowaway on their journey to the South Pole. Somehow she makes a life for herself among the crew and in the heart of their doctor. She even finds happiness amidst the frozen wilderness.

And that’s when it goes badly for her. Karina a brave explorer in her own right, will not be named in the history books. And yet her spirit will know cold, white land more intimately than any of the brave men who dared to reach it.

This is not a happy book. It’s cold and lonely, just like Antarctica. I appreciate that we see a bold woman’s perspective during a time when women and their thoughts were typically cast aside.

But to be honest, it was quite boring at times. And Karina’s fate is so depressing it was hard to keep reading.

Thanks NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for the ARC.

Karina is the Ice Maiden of the title - initially she's stowed away on a ship where she's taken in as a new cabin boy and put to work in the galley. Eventually, of course, her identity is discovered and she falls in love with Hooker, the ship's doctor. As the ship journeys to the Antarctic and Karina takes a trip on the ice, disaster befalls her. Her new identity is wrathful and she seeks vengeance on men, watching as Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton try to conquer the pole.

This is an intriguing and compelling read. I do find the sudden change in Karina's character following her trip on the ice a bit hard to embrace immediately, but sticking with it soon had me compelled to keep going. Well recommended.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for the eARC.
Karina, a young widow, is leading a desperate life of near starvation since her husband, a captain, disappeared off his ship, missing presumed dead. She has no money, owes many people who won't give her anymore credit and her only option is to stow away, disappear from Deception Island to go to Amsterdam, to her sister's. The year is 1842.
Hair shorn and skinny as a rake, she can easily pass for a boy and manages to stow away aboard a British ship. After being discovered and punished with lashes, she is sent below to help the cook and manages to establish a pleasant life, admired for her baking and finding the cook a fair and likeable taskmaster. The ship's doctor eventually discovers she's a young woman and they fall in love.
I don't want to give away any more of the story and will end by saying that this is a wonderful book. The historical heroes who tried to reach the South Pole feature large in the story and the harrowing accounts of life on board a ship in temperatures as low as -50 are jaw dropping. Not to mention when they venture to make their way on foot!
I loved it and can't recommend it highly enough.

Having loved Sara's Mirabelle Bevan series I pretty much knew I'd fall for The Ice Maiden and what a fabulous, well researched, engrossing and un-put-downable read it is.

The story is set initially in 1842 when Karina stows away on a boat leaving from Deception Island. She's destitute and hungry, owing money here and there since her husband went missing at sea. She dresses as a boy and sneaks onboard a ship she believes is bound for England for onward journey to her sister in Amsterdam. But, the ship is bound for the unforgiving and chilling Antarctica.

It's soon discovered that she's a woman and she forms a friendship with the ship's Surgeon, Joseph Hooker. Life on board is tough and fascinating to read about. There's a twist in the tale which shocked me and took me a while to get used to. Karina is brave, plucky, passionate, impatient and wants it all and is a great character to read about. I loved her.

The fact interwoven into the story is an expedition - the Voyage of Discovery and the attempt to take the south pole by Scott & Shackleton. I absolutely loved the story and would highly recommend.

I have read quite a few of Sara Sheridan's books and what I love about them is that she is writing women back into history. All too often women's contributions to history are overlooked since many accounts were written by men and anything women did write was often not valued or retained.  Sara Sheridan's books are full of strong, feisty women bringing a different perspective to history. In The Ice Maiden she mixes fact with fiction to great effect.

Karina is stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic following the death of her seafaring husband on a whaling expedition. She is desperate to return to her sister in Amsterdam and stows away on board a ship, dressed as a boy. However, she is horrified to discover that the ship is in fact heading for the Antarctic, one of the harshest environments in the known world. 

Though I was reading this during the continuing heatwave, Sara Sheridan certainly brought the cold of the Antarctic vividly to life. All the little details of life on board ship built up a clear picture of a sailor's life in the 19th and 20th centuries. It must have been meticulously researched and yet the detail is never too much. Sara Sheridan's passion for illuminating history shines through, bringing to life a time and way of life I knew little about. It was fascinating to read about how people survived in such harsh conditions.

Karina was a terrific character to read about. She was a spirited, brave and passionate woman. She had been through so much that when love presented itself, she didn't want to wait, perhaps rather unconventional for a woman of her time but then Karina was a rather extraordinary character. And my goodness she was a brilliant woman scorned!

The story took an unexpected turn which certainly took me by surprise. Once I had got my head around what had happened, I settled back into the story with renewed interest. I did need to suspend disbelief a bit but the way the story unfolds makes this easy to do. It gave Karina - and the reader - a chance to find out and understand so much more about the significant people and places in her life. This different approach to telling the story also enabled Karina to have insight into one of the most famous Antarctic expeditions - the voyage of the Discovery with Scott and Shackleton on board. I'm particularly fascinated by Sir Ernest so loved this part of the story. I've visited the actual ship at Discovery Point in Dundee so could easily imagine life on board.

The Ice Maiden is a hugely enjoyable adventure story of love, betrayal, revenge and danger in the frozen south.

I debated whether to read this one. I'm not much on drama type historical books and that's what it seemed like from the cover and the blurb. Then I read the "A historical adventure with a paranormal twist" label that it has. Okay, now we are talking!

The story begins with Karina sneaking through the dark. We learn bits and pieces of her backstory as we go. Karina's husband, Thebo leaves her to go whaling. He doesn't make it home. She's hit rock bottom. She's alone. She's starving. She's asked her sister, who lives in Amsterdam with her merchant husband, to send her money so that she can join them there. The money never comes. Karina decides that her only option is to stow away. Any ship will do as long as it gets her out of there. She cuts her hair and dresses in her husband's boots and off she goes.

I loved the first 1/3 of this book. I liked Karina's character. She's not a dominant personality but she has grit and determination. She's not a complete doormat but still keeps her head low. Her life aboard the ship and her interaction with all her shipmates, even once her presence and her true identity were discovered, was an entertaining story.

The twist in the plot surprised me. I was excited to see where the paranormal skew would lead. Unfortunately, everything that followed was unsatisfying. I couldn't get into the ensuing tale. None of the new characters struck a chord with me. I didn't enjoy the metamorphosis of Karina's character. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more without the paranormal twist.

With her husband, a captain on a whaling ship, lost at sea, a desperate Karina, stranded on Deception Island, stows away on a ship, disguised as a cabin boy. Unable to keep her presence a secret, Karina grows close to ship surgeon, Joseph Hooker. But as they sail through the water of Antarctica, the crew begins to fray under the enormous pressure, leaving them all in a very perilous state. Drawing on real life Polar adventurers, Sheridan writes a story that chilled me on a hot summer day