Order directly through McGill-Queens University Press or through your local bookstore; also available as an ebook
From her optimistic requests to whaling ships to her persistent demands for Admiralty aid, Lady Franklin played a crucial role in the search for her husband, lost polar explorer Sir John Franklin. Her correspondence with British prime ministers, members of Parliament, lords of the Admiralty, and a US president presents a private, domestic side to a national tragedy and sheds new light on what Franklin’s disappearance meant to England, its public, and its sense of itself as an imperial power. With comprehensive annotations, a descriptive timeline, and an introduction that outlines the significance of Lady Franklin’s contribution to the “Arctic debate,” As affecting the fate of my absent husband is a convincing portrait of the surprisingly disruptive effects of a single, eloquent, voice of dissent.
“Lady Franklin’s letters, plus the editor’s notes and comments, are more appealing than a biography. Well recommended!” — Dr Ann Savours Shirley, Polar Record