Product Description

At the age of ten months Kari Herbert was taken to the snowy wastes of the High Arctic by her mother Marie and her father, polar explorer Sir Wally Herbert, to live for two years among one of the last surviving tribes of traditional Polar Inuit hunters. Her first words were Inuktun - the Thule dialect of Greenlandic - her first friends the children of local hunters, and the pull of the place and its people lured the family back several times during her childhood. Then in 2002 she returned to the Arctic alone.

The Explorer's Daughter tells the story of Kari Herbert's return to this place of savage beauty, where her childhood friends and `family' still hunt with harpoon in skin kayaks in the summer, and drive dog teams for hundreds of miles in the four-month-long winter night; where she rediscovers a compelling world where light and darkness dominate life, and where her memories and new realities live a parallel existence. In her quest to understand her connection to this remote but deeply familiar environment, Kari Herbert uncovers remnants of the past, when shamans took soul-flights to the moon, and when Inuit nomads prayed to the souls of the animals they hunted; she encounters tragedy and hope at the heart of this small remote community, and finds her friends torn between keeping their ancient traditions alive and submitting to the seductions of the modern world.

In a fascinating and compelling narrative that weaves in native myth, family memoir, personal adventure and brilliant evocations of this extraordinary region of the world, The Explorer's Daughter is a unique and haunting story of the Arctic and of finding home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #465622 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-04
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Daily Telegraph, December 14, 2004
`Herbert applies a photographer's eye and an eloquent pen to the beauty of the Arctic landscape'

The Independent, November 15, 2004
`It is an impressive book, slow-cooked and richly imagined.'

Geographical Magazine, December 2004
`utterly compelling'

Customer Reviews

A Spellbinding Rediscovery
Kari Herbert’s parents aren’t exactly run of the mill. Her father, Sir Wally Herbert is a famous Polar explorer and her mother Marie, an accomplished author.

When she was just ten months old Sir Wally took his young family to live in the High Arctic amongst the remote tribes of Polar Inuit hunters. Kari’s first words were in Inuktun and her small family quickly grew to include an Inuit Grandfather, Aunts, Uncles and many local brothers and sisters. Kari grew up practicing the ways of the Inuit, understanding the fine balance between man and nature and believing that she too belonged to this desolate, but beautiful land. In 2002, after years of residing in London as a successful photographer and travel writer, Kari returned to the Arctic in an attempt to understand her roots, trace her Inuit family and quell the calling of the ice.

This tale of rediscovery is as painful as it is magical as Herbert encounters a people torn between their ancient traditions and the seductions of the modern world. Her last wilderness now contaminated by alcohol, pop music and pre-fabricated housing. Herbert’s absorbing narrative interlaces a perfect balance between historical reference, mystical legend, tragedy and personal adventure to create a spellbinding and addictive read. An exploration of the soul!

A Spellbinding Rediscovery
Kari Herbert’s parents aren’t exactly run of the mill. Her father, Sir Wally Herbert is a famous Polar explorer and her mother Marie, an accomplished author.

When she was just ten months old Sir Wally took his young family to live in the High Arctic amongst the remote tribes of Polar Inuit hunters. Kari’s first words were in Inuktun and her small family quickly grew to include an Inuit Grandfather, Aunts, Uncles and many local brothers and sisters. Kari grew up practicing the ways of the Inuit, understanding the fine balance between man and nature and believing that she too belonged to this desolate, but beautiful land. In 2002, after years of residing in London as a successful photographer and travel writer, Kari returned to the Arctic in an attempt to understand her roots, trace her Inuit family and quell the calling of the ice.

This tale of rediscovery is as painful as it is magical as Herbert encounters a people torn between their ancient traditions and the seductions of the modern world. Her last wilderness now contaminated by alcohol, pop music and pre-fabricated housing. Herbert’s absorbing narrative interlaces a perfect balance between historical reference, mystical legend, tragedy and personal adventure to create a spellbinding and addictive read. An exploration of the soul!

A truly fantastic read
Herbert takes us through an emotional return to the indigenous
people of her childhood. Not just a personal memoire, but an eye opening insight to the human condition of an ancient society struggling in the wake of the West. A truly fantastic read.