Even while describing the months of inactivity, as the explorers drift along on ice floes, waiting to reach open water, Armstrong (The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan) keeps her narrative moving at a brisk pace. The crew of the ship (which sank a year and three months into their journey) went on to spend an Antarctic winter camping on ice floes, battling sub-zero temperatures and frostbite, dehydration and diarrhea, insomnia, boredom and-perhaps most dangerous of all-despair. It is also a fitting characterization for the struggle of the men described in this tale, a true story of survival against incredible odds. Endurance is the fitting name British explorer Ernest Shackleton gave to the ship that left England in 1914 with a crew of 27, transporting what he anticipated to be the first expedition to cross the entire continent of Antarctica.
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