P332 Link

As he closed the book on page 332, the ice gave a sudden, thunderous crack. The ship groaned, shifting forward. The events were unfolding, and for the first time, Lovejoy felt the "grace" in the utility of simply moving forward with history.

Now, the wind whipped at the ship’s sides like someone who only talked and never listened. A young cabin boy, his face gaunt from the cold, entered to deliver a cup of tepid tea. Lovejoy looked at the boy and realized that the boy's suffering was his own, unheard and beyond consolation. As he closed the book on page 332,

Lovejoy dipped his pen and finally wrote the words that would define the Esther's end. He didn't write of hope or fear. He simply wrote: Now, the wind whipped at the ship’s sides

Reviews with content warning for Rape - North Sun - The StoryGraph Lovejoy dipped his pen and finally wrote the

His quill hovered over the page. On the previous three hundred and thirty-one pages, he had recorded the loss of three men to the freezing deep, the failure of the harvest, and the growing hunger in the eyes of his two cabin boys. He thought of the letter he had delivered to the wealthy Ashleys back in Massachusetts—a letter that had secured this doomed expedition. He had felt like a master of his own fate then.