We removed our boots and covered ourselves with care, closing all the gaps and pulling our heads down into the malitsi*. We were able to keep warm but we found it somewhat difficult to breathe. Because we were so tired, we fell asleep at once, and for seven or eight hours we were lost in a dreamless slumber.

But our awakening was terrifying. There was a dreadful cracking sound and suddenly we found ourselves in the water. Our double ’sleeping bag’ filled with water and began to drag us down to toward the bottom. We struggled desperately to get out of this sheath, which, to our downfall, we had bound up too well; the lower edges of the fur had been tucked in tightly, and the whole thing was frozen and stiff as a board. We were like two unwanted kittens thrown together in a sack to be drowned.

IN THE LAND OF WHITE DEATH, Valerian Albanov’s record of his calamitous 2-year icy struggle in 1914 is a captivating read from beginning to end. Page by page you follow him wandering around the arctic circle abandoning a ship that had been stuck fast in the pack ice of the Kara Sea for 2 previous years, with the most meagre supplies and a largely apathetic team members. It is simply astounding in so many ways: that he and others survived again and again through the most extreme cold, the most barren landscapes, and just when you think you know, heavens above this poor wretch really has had enough, the unthinkable happens (no spoilers). If you ever start whining because its an unseemly 5C and a little bit rainy or windy, or perhaps the steak you’re eating isn’t quite cooked, or the banana you’re eating is maybe a bit bruised, just think of Valerian and what he had to go through.

Life really isn’t so bad. Cheer up.

Originally published in Russian in 1917, this was superbly translated into English in 2000 by William Barr.

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* “A malitsa is a coat made of around 4 reindeer skins, the fur being closest to the skin on the inside and the leather on the outside. The Malitsa has an integrated hood and gloves and is similar to a poncho with no zips or buttons”