Madhouse at the End of the Earth is a must-read book for anyone interested in polar exploration and geographic discovery.
It is a fictionalized account of an actual Belgian expedition to the Antarctic, in the final years of the 19th century, and is based on a multitude of journals and reports.
In this epic tale, Sancton unfolds a story of adventure gone horribly awry.
“It is a fascinating and exciting story of endurance, with a flowing narrative and characters well described and full of depth,” said a review in goodreads.com.
It offers a gripping account of the de Gerlache Antarctic expedition of 1897-1899, in which the ship became frozen in the ice for the entire winter.
It is also the story of the friendship between the ship’s doctor, Dr. Frederick Albert Cook, and Roald Amundsen, who was at the beginning of his career as an explorer.
The author uses a lot of primary sources such as diaries.
“Anyone who values a human story in trying conditions, under desperate circumstances, will completely enjoy this book,” said the review.
