The Two-Headed Whale is a story of two tales. The first follows the journey of Sandy who is a lecturer in climate change and interested in Sir Earnest Shackleton who goes on a journey (in a barque) to Antarctica via South Georgia, South Orkney Islands, Elephant Island (all three associated with Shackleton) and along the way discovers the impact of whaling in the Southern Ocean.

The other tale is the discovery of a grave of a 19-year-old at the old whaling station in South Georgia and her desire to know how Anthony Ford ended his life in such an inhospitable place.

I found this a fascinating read for several reasons.

Firstly, I thought that it was the whalers of the 18th and 19th centuries who had decimated the whale stock, while in reality it was the whalers of the 20th century who did. In fact, from 1949 till the 1970’s Britain was a major whaler employing thousands of men on board the ships and at the whaling bases.

The other aspect that was revealing were the conditions under which the men had to work, live, and survive. In fact, after reading the book one can abhor whaling but for the men it was a lucrative but a very dangerous way of making a living. Spoiler alert – the description of the capture and processing of the whales is both graphic and distressing.

The story of Anthony is revealed, and his ending is distressing and maybe indicative of the whole whaling industry and its impact on those magnificent creatures but also on those men who worked the seas.

Both Sandy and Anthony’s stories made for fascinating reading and while my attitude towards whaling hasn’t changed my understanding of those men and boys who went whaling did.

Reviewed by Anthony Llewellyn-Evans

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sandy Winterbottom spent most of her career as an academic teaching and researching in the Environmental Sciences at Stirling University.

In 2010, she left to work in the renewables industry but following a life-changing trip to South Georgia and the Antarctic in 2016, she returned to study and completed the Creative Writing Masters Programme at Stirling University, tutored by Kathleen Jamie.

She lives near Muckhart in Central Scotland.