I May Be Some Time

Francis Spufford explores the British obsession with polar exploration in a book that embodies the danger and mystery that fueled the romantic allure of the poles and, subsequently, the British imagination.

Far from being a conventional history of polar exploration, I May Be Some Time attempts to understand what was going on in the minds of the polar explorers as they headed toward destinies like Terra Nova.

Serving up a heady brew of Captain Perry, Jane Eyre, gastronomic obsessions with iced desserts, and the daily lives of Eskimos, Spufford treats the reader to one of the most satisfying and imaginative contemporary works dealing with exploration and human need.