"Devlin Stead is an orphan in late-nineteenth-century Newfoundland being raised by his loving aunt and less than loving physician uncle. As a young child, he and his mother were suddenly abandoned by his father, Dr. Francis Stead, who fled north to practice medicine among the Eskimos. Distraught at his absence, his mother committed suicide by throwing herself into the icy ocean off Signal Hill. Too far away to return home, his father had joined the American Lieutenant Peary on one of his series of attempts to reach the North Pole, only to wander off from camp one night and disappear. He is presumed dead, and his body is never found. Devlin grows up an outcast and a loner.". "And then one day, his uncle summons Dev to his medical office and hands him an extraordinary life-changing letter from Dr. Frederick Cook, a New York physician and explorer - the first of a series of letters that will alter everything he ever thought he knew about himself. Dev will sail to a New York bursting with the energy of a metropolis about to turn into the capital city of the globe to become Dr. Cook's protege, to be introduced into society, and eventually to accompany the doctor on his epic race to reach the Pole before his arch-rival, Peary. This trip will plunge Dev and Cook into worldwide controversy - and determine the younger man's fate."--BOOK JACKET.