Thaw
By Dennis Glover
Some secrets won't stay buried.
Scott's lost expedition was still here, she thought -- frozen, preserved, waiting to be rescued from the thaw. The truth lay beneath the surface, and she was going to bring it up.
In 1912, five British explorers struggle across the Antarctic landscape, through howling winds and plummeting temperatures, seeking the safety of their camp.
Today, as the world's ice sheets begin to melt and surrender their secrets, renowned glacial archaeologist Missy Simpson works to discover the true cause of the explorers' deaths -- a subject that has intrigued researchers for more than a century.
Her colleague, Cambridge professor Jim Hunter, is working on his own scientific mysteries -- and is willing to risk everything to solve them.
In hallowed halls of learning and on the icy polar plateau, these risk-takers must grapple with the unfathomable power of the natural world and the dramatically changing weather -- while navigating their own complicated relationships.
Drawn from the pages of history and cutting-edge science, Thaw is a gripping read that will forever change how you see the frozen continent -- and those who seek to conquer it.
This dual-timeline tale of Antarctica is anchored by the Simpson family. George Simpson was the real-life Chief Meteorologist for Scott's fatal polar expedition in the early 20th century, while Missy Simpson is his fictional, contemporary great-granddaughter. Ice runs in this family's veins, because while George made his name as a pioneer of polar weather prediction, Missy has become a glacial archaeologist of some renown, having 'found' a number of important historical artefacts lost in the polar ice.
In the earlier timeline, we follow Scott's attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole in the summer of 1911-12. Simpson is concerned that Scott's plan might have them returning a couple of weeks too late to beat the bitter cold of the approaching winter. (A couple of weeks doesn't sound like much, but we all know how this ends, right?) Unfortunately, Simpson's powers of persuasion aren't enough to change Scott's mind, and they stick to the original schedule. Meanwhile, Simpson is recalled from Antarctica to his post in India, and is therefore oblivious to what is happening on the polar icecap due to the months-long lag in news at that time.
In the contemporary timeline (2023) Missy is riding a wave of success, but her next professional challenge is to research and write the biography of her famous ancestor. Working out of the British Institute for Polar Studies in Cambridge, Missy has full access to the BIPS archive including the original journals. It seems like there might be some things missing; possibly not retrieved when the remains of the polar party were discovered. When an opportunity arises for Missy to go to Antarctica, she can't resist the temptation to potentially rediscover the last resting place of Scott, Bowers and Wilson.
Really skilfull storytelling."
