Heart of Oak: A Three-Stranded Yarn, vol. 2.

The ship is dead in the water. Her masts shattered, her sails torn to ribbons, and around her the Arctic ice creeps closer with the patience of a predator. This is the nightmare that traps Captain Burke, his young wife, and the mysterious Marie Otway in a frozen purgatory where every hour narrows the circle of survival. Russell weaves three narratives into a single rope of tension: the hardened captain fighting to keep his vessel and his passengers alive; the quiet terror of his wife, whose love is tested against the unforgiving sea; and Marie Otway, a woman whose past may be as dangerous as the ice itself. As supplies dwindle and the cold reaches for their bones, old secrets surface, alliances shift, and the question becomes not whether rescue will come, but whether they'll want it to. This second volume in Russell's celebrated series is maritime fiction at its most visceral. The ice becomes a mirror, freezing characters in place until their true selves emerge. For those who love adventure that tests the body and reveals the soul.