As a young boy in Sweden at the beginning of the twentieth century, bookworm Sven Ormson was obsessed with polar adventure, but decades of lethargy and dead-end jobs have led to a man who is, at best, stuck. Spurred by his sister Olga, he accepts a two-year contract working as a miner on Spitsbergen, an island halfway between Norway and the North Pole. Early on, a mine shaft collapses, killing nine and grievously wounding Sven. His face is crushed, one eye gone, but the accident is one of the externalities that propel him forward when he can’t do so himself. Wry, sardonic, and funny, Sven narrates his path from victim to legendary Arctic fur trapper, accompanied by a handful of friends (human and canine) who see his worth even when he doesn’t. Based on a real hunter about whom little is known, fictionalized Sven is a cracking good observer of northern scapes, solitude, and the healing power of the human heart.