Shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award

In 2016, Sandy Winterbottom embarked on an epic six-week tall-ship voyage from Uruguay to Antarctica. At the mid-way stop in South Georgia, her pristine image of the Antarctic was shattered when she discovered the dark legacy of twentieth century industrial-scale whaling. Enraged by what she found, she was quick to blame the men who undertook this wholescale slaughter, but then she stumbled upon the grave of an eighteen-year-old whaler from Edinburgh who she could not allow to bear the brunt of blame. There are two sides to every story.

The Two-Headed Whale vividly brings to life the spectacular scenery and wildlife of the vast Southern Oceans, set alongside the true-life story of Anthony Ford, the boy in the grave, as he sailed the same seas and toiled in an industry where profits outranked human life. In this compelling account, Sandy challenges our preconceptions of the Antarctic, weaving in themes of colonialism, capitalism and its link to both environmental and human exploitation. Drawing together threads of nature and travel writing with an unflinching narrative of life onboard a whaling factory ship and the legacy it left behind, The Two-Headed Whale leaves us questioning our troubled relationship with the extraordinary abundance of this planet.

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'The Two-Headed Whale challenges preconceptions of the Antarctic, splicing in themes of colonialism and capitalism and their links to both environmental and human exploitation. But it is also a call to conflicting voices in the climate debate to strive for mutual understanding and better communication in the hope of a concerted, cohesive and effective approach to the crisis'

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'Winterbottom has combined the story of a teenage whaler's death with her shock at the state of the Antarctic today... the book cleverly weaves these two tales together'

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'An alluring-sounding blend of travel and nature writing'

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'A triumph of research... a moving and compassionate eulogy for a young man who, without Winterbottom, would have remained anonymous and unremembered'

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'Sandy Winterbottom has written a book that succeeds beautifully in combining a personal travelogue, a historical biography, [and] an environmental call to arms'

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'Preconceptions about the Antarctic and commercial whaling are challenged in The Two-headed Whale'

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'one of the virtues of his book is that as much empathy is extended to the human workers as to the cetacean mysteries'

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'A majestic look at the barbaric heyday of commercial whaling in the Antarctic Ocean and the lingering consequences for its practitioners and the planet'

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'As accessible as it is intriguing... We are left with a powerful sense of loss and love for our planet and our home'

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'A majestic look at the barbaric heyday of commercial whaling in the Antarctic Ocean and the lingering consequences for its practitioners and the planet'

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'A meticulously researched account of the final days of the whaling industry in Antarctica, interweaving the author’s voyage to Antarctica with the tragic final voyage of a young Edinburgh whaler'

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'A fascinating blend of fact, fiction, memoir and travel writing that defies categorisation'