An unforgettable debut with an irresistible love story, My Last Continent is a big-hearted, propulsive novel set against the dramatic Antarctic landscape—“original and entirely authentic love story” (Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project).
It is only at the end of the world—among the glacial mountains, cleaving icebergs, and frigid waters of Antarctica—where Deb Gardner and Keller Sullivan feel at home. For the few blissful weeks they spend each year studying the habits of emperor and Adélie penguins, Deb and Keller can escape the frustrations and sorrows of their separate lives and find solace in their work and in each other. But Antarctica, like their fleeting romance, is tenuous, imperiled by the world to the north.
A new travel and research season has just begun, and Deb and Keller are ready to play tour guide to the passengers on the small expedition ship that ferries them to their research destination. But this year, Keller fails to appear on board. Then, shortly into the journey, Deb’s ship receives an emergency signal from the Australis, a cruise liner that has hit desperate trouble in the ice-choked waters of the Southern Ocean. Soon Deb’s role will change from researcher to rescuer; among the crew of that sinking ship, Deb learns, is Keller.
As Deb and Keller’s troubled histories collide with this catastrophic present, Midge Raymond’s phenomenal novel takes us on a voyage deep into the wonders of the Antarctic and the mysteries of the human heart. My Last Continent is packed with emotional intelligence and high stakes—a harrowing, searching novel of love and loss in one of the most remote places on earth, a land of harsh beauty where even the smallest missteps have tragic consequences—“Half adventure, half elegy, and wholly recommended” (Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves).
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“An atmospheric tale of love discovered, and losses endured, in Antarctica…Antarctica, with its bizarre and beckoning realities, plays as large a role in this love story as either of its major characters, and the authentic rendering of the setting distinguishes Raymond’s novel from other stories of love in perilous times and places.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Half adventure, half elegy, and wholly recommended.”
— Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author“[An] original and entirely authentic love story.”
— Graeme Simsion, New York Times bestselling author“[A] meditative romance…Raymond has shown us a continent worth visiting.”
— New York Times Book Review“A sensitive exploration of how even the smallest action can ripple through an ecosystem—seemingly impenetrable but as fragile as the human heart.”
— Minneapolis Star-Tribune“Raymond skillfully captures the stunning and singular landscape and its special inhabitants.”
— Publishers Weekly“Atmospheric and adventurous…The story and vivid writing will keep readers glued to the pages.”
— Library JournalBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Midge Raymond is the author of the short story collection Forgetting English, which received the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction, and a novel, My Last Continent. Her work has appeared in Poets & Writers, the Los Angeles Times magazine, TriQuarterly, and Bellevue Literary Review, among others.
Cassandra Campbell has won multiple Audie Awards, Earphones Awards, and the prestigious Odyssey Award for narration. She was been named a “Best Voice” by AudioFile magazine and in 2018 was inducted in Audible’s inaugural Narrator Hall of Fame.