Product Description

For the first two years of her life Kari Herbert lived with her mother and father, the explorer Sir Wally Herbert, among the Inuit people in the vast snowy wastes of the High Arctic. Her first words were Inuktun, her first friends the children of 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. She met her childhood friends again, remembered the exhilaration of sledging with dogs across the ice and remembered the language and faces of her early years. She also encountered alarming changes: the uneasy coexistence of modern life and ancient traditions, and of the hopes and tragedy at the heart of this extraordinary and yet deeply familiar community. The Explorer's Daughter tells the story of Kari Herbert's return to this place of family memories and of savage beauty, where her friends still hunt and eat whale meat; and where she rediscovers a compelling world where light and darkness dominate life, and where her memories and new realities live a parallel existence. In a compelling narrative that weaves in 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 home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #713106 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 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 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.

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!