Pre-order
1
of
1
Empire at the Edge of the World
Endurance and Madness in the High Arctic
Brief Description
One man's lust for empire sent fifteen people into the Arctic - only one came back. 1913, the Arctic circle. Charismatic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson is obsessed with a frozen speck of land in the Siberian Arctic: Wrangel Island. Believing that whoever possesses it would control the...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3999
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Pre-order
Releases
22nd
September 2026
(Approx. Date)
Pre-order "Empire at the Edge of the World" now to secure your copy from our first shipment
Found a better price? Request a price match
Empire at the Edge of the World
$3999
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Latest News
From Page to Panel: The Rise of Graphic Novel Adaptations
Discover why graphic novel adaptations are booming, from ‘Dune’ and ‘Sapiens’ to ‘Call Me by...
Why You Should Read Folk Horror!
If you're looking for a new read and haven't yet tried Folk Horror as a...
Movie Review on The End of Oak Street
Lizzy and Roopa are sharing their reviews of The End of Oak Street, a movie...
We Expanded Our Board Game Range…400+ New Games in Stock Now!
Board game week has arrived at Book Hero! 🎲 We’ve expanded our range, with 400...
What We Played: A Weekend Full of Board Games
What happens when you fill an entire weekend with board games? From family games with...
See moreA harrowing Arctic adventure of imperial rivalries at the frozen edge of the world.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
One man's lust for empire sent fifteen people into the Arctic - only one came back.
1913, the Arctic circle. Charismatic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson is obsessed with a frozen speck of land in the Siberian Arctic: Wrangel Island. Believing that whoever possesses it would control the future - air routes, resources, even the balance of power in the northern hemisphere, he takes an impossible gamble. Dispatching a small, ill-equipped venture to stake a frozen colony in Britain's name, it is a triumph of brilliance, ego, and breathtaking hubris.
What follows is a catastrophe of starvation, madness, and geopolitical risk. As winter seals the island in ice, relief ships fail to arrive and tensions among the colonists spiral toward despair. While diplomats spar and warships steam north, the settlers are left to endure scurvy, polar bears, and the terror of abandonment. At the centre of it all stands one unlikely survivor - a young Inuit seamstress who can outlast them all...
Sweeping, chilling and stranger than fiction, Empire at the Edge of the World is a story of greed and justice at the edge of the world.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781399822732
Publisher: John Murray Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 24 September 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: John Murray Publishers Ltd
Illustration: N/A
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Width: 153.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 384
About the Author
Giles Milton is the million-copy, internationally bestselling author of a dozen works of narrative history. His books have been translated into twenty-five languages. One of Milton's previous works, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, is currently being developed into a major screen project. Milton is the writer and narrator of the acclaimed narrative podcast series, Ministry of Secrets, produced by Sony and available on all platforms. He lives in London and Burgundy.
Also by Giles Milton
View all-
Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare uncovers one of the most riveting yet lesser-known stories of the Second World War. Set against the backdrop of a world on the brink of chaos, this book delves into the inception and operations of a unique top-secret organisation established in London during the spring of 1939. Its singular mission: to orchestrate the systematic destruction...Paperback$2800Elsewhere:$2999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Stalin Affair
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Delivered with flamboyance, it features a sparkling cast of chancers' KATJA HOYER, Daily Telegraph 5* review 'Page-turning . . . a sizzling high-stakes tale' JAMES HOLLAND 'This book might read like the screenplay of a gripping movie, yet every word is accurate and verified' ANDREW ROBERTS 'Giles Milton is a phenomenon' DAN...Paperback$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
18% offCheckmate in Berlin
'Brilliantly recapturing the febrile atmosphere of Berlin in the first four years after the Second World War, Giles Milton reminds us what an excellent story-teller he is' - Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny Berlin was in ruins when Soviet forces fought their way towards the Reichstag in the spring of 1945. Streets were choked with rubble, power...Paperback$2300Usually:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
D-Day
Compellingly authentic, revelatory and beautifully written. A gripping tour de force - Damien Lewis Almost seventy-five years have passed since D-Day, the day of the greatest seaborne invasion in history. The outcome of the Second World War hung in the balance on that chill June morning. If Allied forces succeeded in gaining a foothold in northern France, the road to...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Stalin Affair
'Delivered with flamboyance, it features a sparkling cast of chancers' KATJA HOYER, Daily Telegraph 5* review 'Page-turning . . . a sizzling high-stakes tale' JAMES HOLLAND 'This book might read like the screenplay of a gripping movie, yet every word is accurate and verified' ANDREW ROBERTS 'Giles Milton is a phenomenon' DAN SNOW 'Another rollercoaster ride from Giles Milton. Endlessly...PaperbackSold Out -
Fascinating Footnotes From History
Giles Milton is a man who can take an event from history and make it come alive... an inspiration for those of us who believe that history can be exciting and entertaining' Matthew Redhead, The Times. Did you know that Hitler took cocaine? That Stalin robbed a bank? That Charlie Chaplin's corpse was filched and held to ransom? Giles Milton...PaperbackSold Out -
White Gold
Our Number One name in popular history is back with an explosive new paperback, a sensational new cover look, and a 'fiction' style marketing campaign that will strike gold in summer 2005. This is the forgotten story of the million white Europeans, snatched from their homes and taken in chains to the great slave markets of North Africa to be...PaperbackSold Out -
Nathaniel's Nutmeg
In 1616, an English adventurer, Nathaniel Courthope, stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission - to persuade the islanders of Run to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg, a fabulously valuable spice in Europe. This infuriated the Dutch, who were determined to control the world's nutmeg supply. For five years, Courthope...PaperbackSold Out -
Paradise Lost
On Saturday 9th September, 1922, the victorious Turkish cavalry rode into Smyrna, the richest and most cosmopolitan city in the Ottoman Empire. What happened over the next two weeks must rank as one of the most compelling human dramas of the twentieth century. Almost two million people were caught up in a disaster of truly epic proportions. Paradise Lost is...PaperbackSold Out -
Russian Roulette
In 1917, post-Russian Revolution, an unlikely and eccentric band of British spies were smuggled into newly Soviet Russia to thwart Lenin's plan to destroy British rule in India, as a precursor to toppling the democracies of the West. These spies, under Mansfield Cumming, were the unsung founders of the present-day MI6. The Soviet plot was breathtaking in scale: its aim...PaperbackSold Out
More from History & Military
View all-
21% off
Saving Elli
One child. Two years in hiding. Three lives in mortal danger. In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, near Anne Frank's house, another Jewish girl is hidden. Her name is Elli. Her father has been executed at Mauthausen concentration camp. Her mother is fleeing for her life. Elli is next. To save her, resistance couple Frits and Jo Hakkens must risk everything, concealing her...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Spy and the Traitor
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a spellbinding Cold War thriller that unravels the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who risked everything to aid the British in the battle against Soviet oppression. In meticulously researched detail, Macintyre paints a vivid portrait of espionage, double-crossing, and unparalleled bravery, giving readers a riveting glimpse into...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips early September -
New ReleaseSuicidal Empathy
The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
20% off
Betrayal
‘Tom Bower is the Inspector Morse of investigative biographers, a fluent, phlegmatic storyteller and a master of intricacies.’ Sunday Times The British Crown is in crisis, with constitutional threats at home and abroad. At a landmark moment in royal history, can King Charles overcome the scandals that blight the Royal family? Can the broken bonds between the Houses of Sussex...Paperback$2800Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Man's Search For Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a profound, thought-provoking memoir and psychological exploration that delves into the harrowing experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, intertwined with the author’s groundbreaking theories on existential psychology. The book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a beacon of hope and a roadmap for finding purpose...Paperback$1800Elsewhere:$2100Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Buy to WinNew ReleaseBiological War
There is an invisible weapon among us. By the time you know you are a victim, it has turned you into a killer. A blistering new non-fiction thriller from the Baillie Gifford shortlisted author of Nuclear War (200,000 copies sold). A lab accident, a bio-attack, a global pandemic, and the collapse of human society. In this essential new book, based...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
20% offDiscipline
Silence is complicity, but how do we confront the cost of speaking up? Sydney, May 2021. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall. Hannah is a young journalist struggling to honour the voices of her community. When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university's ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer,...Paperback$3200Usually:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Women's Prize WinnerThe Finest Hotel in Kabul
The story of a hotel. The story of a nation. When the Inter-Continental Kabul opened in 1969, Afghanistan's first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connected to the world. More than fifty years on, the Inter-Continental is still standing. It has endured Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a grievous civil war, a US invasion and the rise, fall...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Signed
The Chief and the Empire
The Chief and the Empire uncovers the extraordinary true tale of Te Tai Tokerau rangatira Te Pahi - the first influential Māori leader to cross the Tasman - whose curiosity about the Pākehā world forged alliances, saved lives, and ultimately cost him his own. On a visit to Sydney in 1805, Te Pahi was feted as a celebrity, building close...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Shattered Lands
'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' – PETER FRANKOPAN 'This book is a revelation … both original and important' – MISHAL HUSAIN A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Goliath’s Curse
Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp offers a radical retelling of human history through the lens of collapse, delving into what this means for our uncertain future. This narrative spans from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond. It's grounded in the latest research and a comprehensive database of more than 440...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
1929
From the bestselling author of Too Big to Fail, comes a riveting, fly-on-the-wall account of the most infamous stock market crash in history. In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation. But behind the flashing ticker tapes and...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
