# Empire Antarctica

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![Empire Antarctica](https://quivercdn.com/covers/vintage-digital/gavin-francis/empire-antarctica_978-14-4648-482-1-617189a9.webp?v=2026-10-09%2002%3A49%3A03)

- Book: [Empire Antarctica](https://www.bookquiver.com/gavin-francis/empire-antarctica) ([Empire Antarctica.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/gavin-francis/empire-antarctica.md))
- Authors: [Gavin Francis](https://www.bookquiver.com/gavin-francis)
- Publisher: vintage_digital
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-14-4648-482-1
- Published: 2012-11-01
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

* WINNER OF THE SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2013 * *Shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Biography Prize* * Shortlisted for the 2013 RSL Ondaatje Prize * * Shortlisted for Banff Adventure Travel Prize * * Shortlisted for Saltire Book of the Year Award * Gavin Francis fulfilled a lifetime's ambition when he spent fourteen months as the base-camp doctor at Halley, a profoundly isolated British research station on the Caird Coast of Antarctica. So remote, it is said to be easier to evacuate a casualty from the International Space Station than it is to bring someone out of Halley in winter. Antarctica offered a year of unparalleled silence and solitude, with few distractions and very little human history, but also a rare oppurtunity to live among emperor penguins, the only species truly at home in the Antarctic. Following the penguins throughout the year -- from a summer of perpetual sunshine to months of winter darkness -- Gavin Francis explores a world of great beauty conjured from the simplest elements, the hardship of living at 50°C below zero and the unexpected comfort that the penguin community bring.