C. Ian Jackson was one of four graduate students who embarked upon Operation Hazen, part of Canada's contribution to the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year. Their work at the weather and research station at Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island exposed them to unusual cold -- 121 days with temperatures below -40o -- as well as isolation. The failure of their radio shortly after their arrival deprived them of contact with the world beyond. Based on lengthy letters written to his fiancee during their twelve month separation, this account of the physical challenges, intellectual excitement, and quiet rewards of Operation Hazen is an engrossing and often humorous narrative in the tradition of some of the classic accounts of polar exploration.