From Publishers Weekly
While the 1912 British Antarctic expedition is primarily remembered for Captain Robert Scott's party perishing as it returned from its losing race to the South Pole, Lambert focuses on the amazing survival of the expedition's other lost crew. In her first book, Lambert, former editor of the World Expeditionary Association's Expedition magazine, tells the story of the six men who survived a seven-month Antarctic winter in a makeshift igloo with just over six weeks' worth of rations, eschewing dramatization for heavy use of the explorers' journals. The diary entries range from humorous to gut-wrenching, and truly show the men's raging obsession with the foulest of food ("had excellent hoosh with seal's brain... tasted rather like soaked bread"). Lambert's thrifty writing guides the men's story along as their journals convey the castaways' Britishness ("If I could at the present moment buy penny buns for a sovereign apiece, I don't think I should have much money left") and highlight the distinct personalities of each member of the group. Although Lambert's account lacks a history of the nature of polar exploration and a description of other polar survival stories, it is thorough and touching. The author's attention to detail allows her to portray the human spirit's triumph over adversity while adding another valuable text to the significant library of polar literature. Photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Lambert chronicles the struggle for survival of six members of Captain Robert Scott's team chosen to concentrate on scientific research and exploration at the South Pole in 1912. This so-called North Party, led by Lieutenant Victor Campbell, endured seven months of near starvation, physical exhaustion, and debilitating illness while living in an igloo dug out of a snowdrift, their food penguin meat and seal blubber. Lambert vibrantly re-creates the world in which Scott and his contemporaries lived--a world of sailing ships and sledges, in which diaries, photographs, and letters were the only reliable records of scientific achievement and daily life, and thus the astonishing story of these six men is retold largely in their own words. With many black-and-white photographs, this is a thrilling account of challenge and courage and, ultimately, survival. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, explorer and author of Captain Scott and Beyond the Limits
A wonderful book.

Book Description
The unknown story of Scott's Northern party and their desperate struggle for survival. Lost to history until now, The Longest Winter is not only one of the greatest unknown survival stories to come out of the heroic age of polar exploration, it's easily one of the greatest survival stories ever. In addition to the doomed team Scott was leading back from the South Pole in 1912, there was a six-member scientific expedition stranded several hundred miles to the north. The men endured almost seven months in one of the harshest climates on earth, living in an igloo dug out of a snowdrift. What makes their story uniquely compelling is that it is primarily based on the unpublished diaries of the members, particularly the man who came to be the hero of the party, Dr. Murray Levick. His day-to-day entries offer a rare glimpse into the psychology of a group of relative strangers who must depend on each other for survival while suffering through subzero weather, starvation, dysentery, and mental breakdowns. They finally embarked on a grueling 37-day, 230-mile journey to an unknown end; yet all six men survived—to a large degree because of Dr. Levick—only to learn the terrible fate of the polar party. 27 b/w photographs.

About the Author
Katherine Lambert was formerly editor of the World Expeditionary Association's Expedition magazine. She lives in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In 1912, as the ill-fated English explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott was leading his team back from their race to the South Pole, a six-member scientific team was stranded several hundred miles to the north. The Longest Winter is the definitive account of the men of the Northern Party, their desperation, and their heroic fight for survival in the Antarctic. Their full story is told here for the first time." "Based on the unpublished diaries of the men, Katherine Lambert has woven together an inspirational story of survival. In particular, she uses the detailed diary of the man who came to be the hero of the party, Dr. Murray Levick, a naval surgeon. His day-to-day entries offer a rare glimpse into the psychology of a group of relative strangers who must depend on each other for survival while suffering through subzero weather, starvation, dysentery, and mental breakdowns. They lived in an igloo carved out of a snowdrift and survived on a small supply of seal blubber, penguin meat, biscuits, and chocolate. They attempted to keep their sanity by singing hymns and reading Charles Dickens's David Copperfield aloud. After seven long months, the group embarked on a grueling, 37-day, 230-mile journey to an unknown end; yet all six men survived and made it back to base camp only to learn of the death of Captain Scott's polar party." The Longest Winter is a gripping survival story of human fortitude in the face of almost certain death, and ultimately a testament to the indomitable spirit of Dr. Levick.

SYNOPSIS

Lambert (a former editor of Expedition, the magazine of the World Expeditionary Association) narrates the story of a six-man expedition team separated from the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott exploration of the South Pole and forced to survive seven months stranded in Antarctica before attempting a 37-day journey back to the base camp. Lambert recreates the story from the detailed diaries of the expedition, relying particularly on the account of naval surgeon Murray Levick, who emerges from the pages "as an unsung hero of the heroic age of polar exploration." Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

While the 1912 British Antarctic expedition is primarily remembered for Captain Robert Scott's party perishing as it returned from its losing race to the South Pole, Lambert focuses on the amazing survival of the expedition's other lost crew. In her first book, Lambert, former editor of the World Expeditionary Association's Expedition magazine, tells the story of the six men who survived a seven-month Antarctic winter in a makeshift igloo with just over six weeks' worth of rations, eschewing dramatization for heavy use of the explorers' journals. The diary entries range from humorous to gut-wrenching, and truly show the men's raging obsession with the foulest of food ("had excellent hoosh with seal's brain... tasted rather like soaked bread"). Lambert's thrifty writing guides the men's story along as their journals convey the castaways' Britishness ("If I could at the present moment buy penny buns for a sovereign apiece, I don't think I should have much money left") and highlight the distinct personalities of each member of the group. Although Lambert's account lacks a history of the nature of polar exploration and a description of other polar survival stories, it is thorough and touching. The author's attention to detail allows her to portray the human spirit's triumph over adversity while adding another valuable text to the significant library of polar literature. Photos. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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