In 1914, 18-year-old Clara Ketterling-Dunbar (white) is the only female (and American) member of a crew of 28 on board the British ship Resolute when it sinks in Antarctic waters, leaving everyone alive but stranded on ice floes. A staunch women’s suffragist, Clara was involved with the Women’s Social and Political Union in London before she grew frustrated with their decision to halt their suffrage efforts to focus on wartime contributions. Clara is determined to prove both herself and women as a whole on this ambitious expedition—based on that of Sir Ernest Shackleton and crew—to cross the Antarctic, but she is routinely underestimated, even scorned, by crewmates who believe she can do little more than cook and trim hair. As the crew bide their time in tents, waiting for a passage to open up in the ice, Clara records her experiences in her notebook, hoping it will serve as a guide for future women explorers. She describes her crewmates as both individuals and archetypes: Among others, there are the Boss, whose leadership must be trusted if they are to survive; the Cook, who treats Clara with gruff kindness; Timothy, her friend; and the Villain, a man named Hotchkiss, who causes a perilous rift in the crew when he assaults Clara. In a desolate and unforgiving environment, Clara stubbornly proves herself again and again, battling for her own and her crew’s survival in an engrossing story that balances action and adventure with introspection and observations of group dynamics. (Ages 13 and older)

Two starred reviews!

A teen’s fight for suffrage turns into one of survival when her crew’s Antarctic expedition ship gets stuck in the ice in this historical “gripping—and sometimes gut-wrenching—adventure tale” (Shelf Awareness, starred review) told in journal entries perfect for fans of Gary Paulsen and The Downstairs Girl.

November 1914.

Clara Ketterling-Dunbar is one of twenty-eight crew members of The Resolute—a ship meant for an Antarctic expedition now marooned on an ice floe one hundred miles from the shore of the continent. An eighteen-year-old American, Clara has told the crew she’s twenty-one years old and Canadian. Since the war broke out, sentiment toward Americans has not been the most favorable, and Clara will be underestimated enough simply for being a woman without also giving away just how young she is. Two members of the crew know her nationality, but no one knows the truth of her activities in England before The Resolute set sail.

She and her suffragist sisters in the Women’s Social & Political Union were waging war of a different kind in London. They taught Clara to fight. And now, even marooned on the ice, she won’t stop fighting for women’s rights…or for survival. In the wilderness of Antarctica, Clara is determined to demonstrate what a woman is truly capable of—if the crew will let her.