Why read May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth?

Book cover of May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth: Letters of the Lost Franklin Arctic Expedition

Book description

May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth is a privileged glimpse into the private correspondence of the officers and sailors who set out in May 1845 on the Erebus and Terror for Sir John Franklin's fateful expedition to the Arctic.

The letters of the crew and their correspondents begin…

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Why read it?

1 author picked May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Ken McGoogan

Author

This collection of letters is part of the canon. First, it brings the men of the final Franklin expedition to life. We hear them coming and going, speaking to their contemporaries as if in private. We marvel at the extent of John Franklin’s religiosity and his sense of having a Christian mission. And at last, we understand his refusal, during his first overland expedition, to turn back before it was too late. Instead, he stood waiting for a miracle, convinced that any minute now, Edward Parry would arrive in a Royal Navy ship.

What’s more, in his succinct introduction, editor…

From Ken's list on The best books about what happened to the lost Franklin Expedition.