Safe Return Doubtful

Non-Fiction – Published January 2025

Levy is at his best when writing about Arctic Exploration. I’ve read much of his work and prior to this my favourites were <i>Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition</i> and <i>Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk</i>. This is up there with them.

His premise is that the Polar airship age, the height of exploration fever, 1906 to 1928, was an age of heroes, but, defining a hero as a leader who draws others into risking everything for the sake of a globally significant goal, in this case, flying over the North Pole.

There are three stories, the first of airship pioneer Walter Wellman and his repeated efforts to rebuild and fly north, the second, of the attempts of the Norwegian Roald Amundsen, later in his life, and the third, the expedition of the dirigible called the Italia, which crashed, and subsequent and massive search for survivors.

It is simply, thrilling story-telling. In some of his other work, Levy gets caught up with politics of how the events he writes about are seen today, but in recounting Polar adventures, clearly a passion of his, there is none of that.

This is essential reading for anyone interested by exploration and survival, particularly at the poles. I expect it to be one of my books of the year.

My Goodreads score 5/5