<p><b>* WINNER OF THE SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2013 *</b><br><br><b><i>*Shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Biography Prize*</i></b><br><i><b>* Shortlisted for the 2013 RSL Ondaatje Prize *<br>* Shortlisted for Banff Adventure Travel Prize *</b><br></i><b><i>* Shortlisted for Saltire Book of the Year Award *</i></b><br><br>Gavin Francis fulfilled a lifetime''s ambition when he spent fourteen months as the base-camp doctor at Halley, a profoundly isolated British research station on the Caird Coast of Antarctica. So remote, it is said to be easier to evacuate a casualty from the International Space Station than it is to bring someone out of Halley in winter.<br><br>Antarctica offered a year of unparalleled silence and solitude, with few distractions and very little human history, but also a rare oppurtunity to live among emperor penguins, the only species truly at home in the Antarctic. Following the penguins throughout the year -- from a summer of perpetual sunshine to months of wint