In this captivating work part travelogue, part history, part memoir of a life-long affair with the northern lands, seas traveller and scholar Charles Moseley describes a haunting world, where the voices of the past are never quiet. From his account of the last days of the Viking settlements in Greenland to his own experiences on the melting glaciers of Spitsbergen, he reminds us how deceptive are human ideas of permanence, and how fragile are the systems of these starkly beautiful lands.