August, 1616. The whaling ship Heartsease has ventured high into the Arctic, but now must begin the long journey home. Only one man stays behind: Thomas Cave makes a wager to remain here, alone, until the next season. Cave pits himself against blizzards, avalanches, bears - and his own demons. His past returns to him: the woman he had loved. 'Divine and mesmerising ... rouses the spirits of Defoe, Hawthorne and R. L. Stevenson'