THE WHITE LIE

By JG Kelly

Hodder & Stoughton

■ Anyone with an interest in polar exploration will be well acquainted with the tragic events surrounding Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s second expedition to the South Pole. We know that in 1912, the intrepid British explorer reached his goal, the South Pole, only to discover that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had preceded his team by about a month. On their return journey, the heroic party was beset by illness, lack of food, frostbite and blizzards. Scott and his companions eventually reached a spot about 18 kilometres south of One Ton Depot, where they died of starvation or frostbite. Their bodies were eventually discovered, along with Scott’s diary.

That diary and Scott’s heroic death have inspired generations. But what if there was a sinister twist to this historical event? Author JG Kelly spins a page-turning web of intrigue in a fictionalised account of an event set nearly 60 years after Scott’s death. Apsley CherryGarrard was a surviving member of the ill-fated polar expedition. Falcon Grey was an orphan of the Blitz, brought up on Cherry-Garrard’s country estate. In

1969, a secret diary is left in Cherry-Garrard’s will to Dr Falcon Grey of the Scott Polar Institute.

The explorer’s bequest is a small red notebook that was found in Scott’s tent. Contained within is an explosive and hitherto unknown piece of information: Scott and his companions weren’t victims of frostbite or hunger – they were murdered in the coldest of blood. Suspects range from envious foreign powers, such as the Kaiser’s Germany, to revolutionaries and even Scott’s own men. The narrative picks up pace as Falcon seeks to unravel the mystery that lies with those bodies found in a tomb of ice. Falcon is convinced that vital clues lie in the tent, so he goes south to see it for himself. But someone is desperate to conceal the truth and will kill to keep the secrets under the ice. At this point, there’s no turning back for Falcon. Nor, for that matter, for the reader.