Like a lot of people, I am fascinated by the doomed Franklin Expedition. Everything about it is horrifyingly captivating: the questionable abilities of Franklin, the dodgy food, the cryptic notes left behind, the overconfidence of the British Admiralty, the determination of Lady Franklin to find her missing husband, and, most of all, what it was like for all those men trapped by ice, knowing there was no way out.
Because of this fascination, I’ve consumed a lot of Franklin Expedition books, articles and documentaries. (I even watched a TV show called The Terror, in which the crew was menaced by a magical polar bear. The cast did their best, but…well, it wasn’t my kind of thing. Let’s leave it at that.)
But somehow I missed On the Proper Use of Stars by Dominique Fortier, which was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for French Fiction in 2009 (as Du bon usage des étoiles) and then shortlisted again in 2010 for the French to English Translation by Sheila Fischman. I loved it. The poetic language, the flashes of humour, the shifting perspectives, the subtly mounting feelings of dread and hopelessness and helplessness – it’s perfect. Five stars.