The Ice Maiden

November 1, 2018

In 1842, Karina Lande, a destitute widow stranded on Deception Island, stows away on a British ship, hoping to reach Amsterdam. When she's discovered and poses as a young man named Karl, she learns she's actually on the way to Antarctica on Captain James Ross's trip to map the continent. She successfully works as the cook's assistant until an accident uncovers her true identity and is happy with her budding relationship with the ship doctor, Joseph Hooker, until the day some of the crew plant the flag and she falls in a crevasse and is left for dead. Seeking revenge against the men who abandoned her, Karina's spirit lingers over Antarctica where she observes expeditions led by captains Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Henry Shackleton. VERDICT While some may ponder whether Karina was actually betrayed, only intrepid readers will be willing to tackle a paranormal historical mystery about the explorations of Antarctica in the 19th century.{amp}mdash;Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 10, 2018
In 1842, destitute 24-year-old widow Karina Lande, the heroine of this arresting historical novel from Sheridan (the Mirabelle Bleven mysteries), disguises herself as a boy and stows away on the Terror, a ship harbored at Deception Island in the South Atlantic, where she has been stranded since the death of her estranged sea captain husband. Karina, though she’s a native of Sweden, hopes the Terror will take her to her beloved Amsterdam, where she lived happily before her troubled marriage. Several days out from port, she is discovered and informed that the Terror is sailing to Antarctica, which the captain has been charged with mapping. As Karl, she goes to work in the galley and soon develops a reputation as a fine baker of bread and pastries. She also arouses confused feelings in the ship’s doctor. Then Karina’s story takes an unexpected, eerie swerve several decades into the future, and the focus shifts to the travails of indomitable Antarctic explorers Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and the crews of their respective ships. Sheridan acutely casts a woman’s eye on traditionally male endeavors in this often poetic tale. Agent: Jenny Brown, Jenny Brown Assoc. (U.K.).

November 1, 2018
The year is 1874, and Karina Lande is out of options. After her husband dies on a whaling expedition, she is left without the means to sail back to Europe from Deception Island in the remote South Atlantic. Nearly starving, she decides to cut her hair and pose as a cabin boy, a ruse which enables her to successfully stow away on the Terror, on which she is soon put to work in the galley. Her spirits soar as she imagines being reunited with her sister in Amsterdam, but her hopes are quickly dashed when she realizes that the ship is bound for Antarctica, not Europe. Karina embraces her unintentional journey, gaining popularity on board with her delicious desserts and growing close to the ship's doctor. Karina finally gets a taste of happiness, but a twist of fate alters the course of her life forever as things take a paranormal turn. Scottish writer Sheridan (On Starlit Seas, 2017) presents a Victorian sailing adventure through time and space, narrated by a woman struggling to find her voice among men.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)