Robert Faubel, with his manuscript-in-progress, Her Farthest North, is a 2022 New Voices writer. Congratulations, Robert.

Her Farthest North is a historical novel of the Edwardian era chronicling the life of Henrietta Truelock Thurlow, a wealthy heiress and gifted scientist with a thirst for adventure. Using her substantial fortune, “Hetty” becomes just the second woman in the United States to receive a Ph.D in Geology. Fighting against prejudice and the inherent male bias of graduate institutions, she is finally recognized for her important geological findings following an expedition to the high Canadian Arctic.

After refusing a marriage proposal from her long-time beau, Thaddeus Parkerfield, an American diplomat stationed in Saint Petersburg, Hetty meets a Russian admiral who tells her of new land discovered off the coast of Siberia. After constructing an icebreaker-research vessel, she voyages through the treacherous Northeast Passage to explore Czar Nicholas II Land. Far out in the Arctic Ocean, Hetty and her female Inuit guide, Higalik, find an uncharted volcanic island. It is the closest landmass to the North Pole. But her discovery is rejected by the scientific community “due to lack of evidence.”

Image: Robert Faubel

About Robert: Robert Faubel grew up in Connecticut, attending Fairfield University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History, magna cum laude. Recipient of the 1995 James Madison Memorial Fellowship, he was awarded a master’s degree in American History from Fordham University. While completing a Certificate in Novel Writing at Stanford University, he developed the genesis for his historical adventure novel Her Farthest North.

Robert taught high school history in New York City for twenty-five years before moving to Alaska, where he lived and worked at native schools in both the North Slope and Saint Lawrence Island. He is a life member of the Scott Polar Research Institute and holds membership in the Historical Novel Society, NA. For fun, he likes battling the “great cold” through winter camping in mountain and Arctic environments.