At the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Arctic Explorer Edward Mackley Sets Out to Reach the North Pole and Vanishes Into the Icy Landscape Without a Trace. He Leaves Behind a Young Wife, Emily, Who Awaits His Return for Decades, Her Dreams and Devotion Gradually Freezing Into Rigid Widowhood. a Hundred Years Later, on a Sweltering Mid-Summer's Day, Edward's Great-Grand-Niece Julia Moves Through the Old Family House, Attempting to Impose Some Order on the Clutter of Inherited Belongings and Memories From That Ill-Fated Expedition, and Taking Care to Ignore the Deepening Cracks Within Her Own Marriage. but As Afternoon Turns Into Evening, Julia Makes a Discovery That Splinters Her Long-Held Image of Edward and Emily's Romance, and Her Husband Simon Faces a Precipitous Choice That Will Decide the Future of Their Relationship. Sharply Observed and Deeply Engaging, "The Still Point" is a Powerful Literary Debut, and a Moving Meditation on the Distances - Geographical and Emotional - That Can