Polar explorers were the superstars of the "heroic age" of exploration, a period spanning the Victorian and Edwardian eras. In this engaging book, author Kari Herbert explores the unpredictable, often heartbreaking lives of seven remarkable women who married world-famous polar explorers.

As the daughter of a pioneering polar explorer, Herbert brings a unique perspective to these stories of polar exploration. In her portraits of the gifted sculptor Kathleen Scott; eccentric traveller Jane Franklin; spirited poet Eleanor Anne Franklin; Jo Peary, the first white woman to travel and give birth in the High Arctic; talented and determined Emily Shackleton; Norwegian singer Eva Nansen; and her own mother, adventurer Marie Herbert, Karie Herbert blends deeply personal accounts of longing, betrayal, and hope with stories of peril and adventure.

Herbert illuminates the essential role the women played in supporting, publicizing, defending, and even financing their husbands' expeditions. She follows these "polar wives" not only to the polar wastelands but through war­torn Macedonia, the lawless outback of Australia, and the plague­-riddled ancient cities of the Holy Land.

With extracts from previously unpublished historic journals and letters, Polar Wives brings together for the first time, the compelling stories of seven adventurous women.