America is marching headlong into the Depression. Unemployment is rife, Reds are protesting in New York's streets, but on the waterfront Prohibition has failed to water down the beer. The rich are meanwhile getting richer, and the poor only more destitute, in this powerfully wrought novel that crosses the paths of two men from opposite ends of the social spectrum. While the industrialist and sometime big-game hunter Carl Schenck has amassed a fortune fabulous enough to expect the world to cater to his whims, seaman Will Boden has lost his boat, his wife, and his reputation. Second chances don't come easily to a captain who's abandoned his own ship - until Schenck's determination to organize an Arctic safari presents Boden with the opportunity to do what no seasoned seaman would: to navigate a luxuriously appointed but ill-equipped yacht, the Lodestar, through perilous Polar waters.
