Into the Polar Night A fascinating and often amusing journal written by a young French woman in 1839.
She travelled through a very different Northern Europe to that of 2026 visiting Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Prussia, Saxony and Russia. She also sailed on a French naval corvette, La Recherche, which was conducting a scientific expedition to Spitzbergen before she travelled across Lapland.
Her original book was titled 'Voyage d'une femme au Spitzberg'. This was a great success, being re-issued seven times.
Leonie was a feminist and ecologist, a witty and intelligent woman with a contemporary curiosity. She later spent many influential years as Victor Hugo's lover and also wrote papers and plays in her own name.