Perseverance: Life and Death in the Subarctic

An adventurer, firefighter, and jiu-jitsu practitioner embarks on a journey of a lifetime—a thousand–mile voyage through the Canadian subarctic—after recovering from a life-threatening illness.

The Canadian North is a vast and lonely land where bears roam free, fires rage unchecked, and storms blast every living thing on the tundra. When Stephan Kesting, already no stranger to pushing his own physical limits, was faced with a rare illness, he knew the only way for him to recover in both body and mind was to dig even deeper.

Despite the dangers inherent in the subarctic, Kesting sets out on an unimaginably difficult journey. Completely alone for six weeks in the wilderness, where a single mistake could cost his life, Kesting followed in the footsteps of the native peoples and earliest explorers. In this deepest solitude and wracked with self-doubt, he found the strength to endure.

Perseverance is the moving and nail-biting account of his journey from near-death to a raw embrace of adventure and life. Inspirational, vulnerable, and honest, Kesting shares the lessons he learned in the wilderness that will help us hold onto hope in our darkest moments and show how we can find the strength to overcome any obstacle.

© 2025 Blackstone Publishing (Audiobook): 9798228347380

Release date

Audiobook: 4 March 2025