Numa procura frenética de uma saída à prisão do inverno branco do extremo Norte, dois homens esfomeados e fatigados tropeçam ao longo de uma estrada árida. Nenhum sacrifício, esforço ou dor é demasiado grande para dissuadir a sua apaixonada e assustadora vontade de sobreviver. Um mineiro entra numa cabana onde os seus quatro companheiros tomam o pequeno-almoço e assassina dois deles a sangue frio. O assassino é amarrado graças à esposa de um dos sobreviventes, que salta para cima do criminoso para o impedir de recarregar a sua espingarda. Como a cabana ficará fechada durante meses, o dilema do que fazer com ele permanece. Mandell é um pequeno povoado na orla do mar Ártico, habitado principalmente por mulheres. Os violentos acontecimentos que levaram a estas circunstâncias são relatados através dos olhos de um dos poucos sobreviventes masculinos do conflito entre os nativos, então populosos, e um pequeno grupo de marinheiros brancos. Estes e muitos outros contos do livro, partilham uma longa e poderosa história sobre os extraordinários obstáculos que a humanidade ultrapassa com o objetivo de sobreviver.
Author
John Griffith Chaney (1876-1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories, "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay", and "The Heathen". London was part of the radical literary group, "The Crowd," in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of unionization, workers' rights, and socialism. He wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel, The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam. London died November 22, 1916, in a sleeping porch in a cottage on his ranch. London's ashes were buried on his property, not far from the Wolf House. The grave is marked by a mossy boulder. The buildings and property were later preserved as Jack London State Historic Park, in Glen Ellen, California.
