The Frozen Deep [Paperback]

'Novelist and playwright Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) is known for the first full length detective stories written in English. 'Woman in White' and 'Moonstone' are his most well-known and popular novels. 'The Frozen Deep' is the tale of Clara Burnham and the two romantic rivals for her attention, and is based on an 1845 expedition to the Arctic that ends in disaster. It also served as inspiration for 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens, Collins' friend and collaborator.' --The Bloomsbury Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Inspired by Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 expedition to find the North West Passage, 'The Frozen Deep' is a tale of heroism and self-sacrifice set in the inhospitable Arctic wastes. On the night before his departure on the Arctic expedition, Clara Burnham pledges her love to Frank Aldersley, an officer of the Sea-Mew. She later discovers that Richard Wardour, an admirer she has spurned, is to sail on the expedition's other vessel, the Wanderer. Before he leaves, Wardour promises to avenge himself on the man who has stolen Clara from him. There should be no cause for the two men to meet, but when both ships are trapped in the Arctic ice, Clara's sixth sense warns her of the terrible danger her lover now faces.

A close friend and collaborator with Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins cornered the Victorian market in literary sensationalism. A pioneer of detective fiction, he produced such novels as 'The Moonstone' and 'The Woman in White' which were huge hits with the reading public. Collins was a flamboyant member of the Victorian Establishment, renowned as much for his personal life as for his extremely popular writing. He is regarded by many as the creator of the full-length detective story. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

The date is between twenty and thirty years ago. The place is an English seaport. The time is night. And the business of the moment is – dancing.

The Mayor and corporation of the town are giving a grand ball, in celebration of the departure of an Arctic expedition from their port. The ships of the expedition are two in number – the Wanderer and the Sea-mew. They are to sail (in search of the Northwest Passage) on the next day, with the morning tide.

Honour to the Mayor and corporation! It is a brilliant ball. The band is complete. The room is spacious. The large conservatory opening out of it is pleasantly lit with Chinese lanterns, and beautifully decorated with shrubs and flowers. All officers of the army and navy who are present wear their uniforms in honour of the occasion. Among the ladies, the display of dresses (a subject which the men don’t understand) is bewildering – and the average of beauty (a subject which the men do understand) is the highest average attainable, in all parts of the room.

For the moment, the dance which is in progress is a quadrille. General admiration selects two of the ladies who are dancing as its favourite objects. One is a dark beauty in the prime of womanhood – the wife of First Lieutenant Crayford, of the Wanderer. The other is a young girl, pale and delicate; dressed simply in white; with no ornament on her head but her own lovely brown hair. This is Miss Clara Burnham – an orphan. She is Mrs Crayford’s dearest friend, and she is to stay with Mrs Crayford during the lieutenant’s absence in the Arctic regions. She is now dancing, with the lieutenant himself for partner, and with Mrs Crayford and Captain Helding (commanding officer of the Wanderer) for vis-à-vis – in plain English, for opposite couple.

The conversation between Captain Helding and Mrs Crayford, in one of the intervals of the dance, turns on Miss Burnham. The captain is greatly interested in Clara. He admires her beauty; but he thinks her manner – for a young girl – strangely serious and subdued. Is she in delicate health?

Mrs Crayford shakes her head; sighs mysteriously; and answers,

‘In very delicate health, Captain Helding.’

‘Consumptive?’

‘Not in the least.’

‘I am glad to hear that. She is a charming creature, Mrs Crayford. She interests me indescribably. If I was only twenty years younger – perhaps (as I am not twenty years younger) I had better not finish the sentence? Is it indiscreet, my dear lady, to enquire what is the matter with her?’

‘It might be indiscreet, on the part of a stranger,’ said Mrs Crayford. ‘An old friend like you may make any enquiries. I wish I could tell you what is the matter with Clara. It is a mystery to the doctors themselves. Some of the mischief is due, in my humble opinion, to the manner in which she has been brought up.’

‘Ay! ay! A bad school, I suppose.’

‘Very bad, Captain Helding. But not the sort of school which you have in your mind at this moment. Clara’s early years were spent in a lonely old house in the Highlands of Scotland. The ignorant people about her were the people who did the mischief which I have just been speaking of. They filled her mind with the superstitions which are still respected as truths in the wild north – especially the superstition called the Second Sight.’ --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.