Publishers Weekly
★ 08/21/2023
In this poignant debut, environmentalist Winterbottom explores the bloody history of the Antarctic whaling industry in the 20th century. Winterbottom writes that she originally approached the topic with an eye toward investigating the mass slaughter of whales. (The figures astonish: upward of 325,000 blue whales, just one species that was hunted, were killed in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica over the course of 20th century; around 5,000 remain today.) However, she became captivated by the accounts of whalers, whose labor conditions were dire: injured workers were not allowed to get immediate medical help (since diverting the ship would reduce profits), whaling stations were overrun with rats, and many of the men suffered psychological trauma as a result of participating in the carnage, which often entailed gruesome cruelties such as pulling babies from pregnant females and leaving calves to starve to death. Winterbottom focuses on the story of Anthony Ford, a 19-year-old whaler who died by suicide after he slept through his ship’s departure and was left stranded for six months at a remote Antarctic whaling station. Combining archival research with her own journey to Antarctica, Winterbottom’s devastating narrative draws parallels between whaling and the fossil fuel industry, both extractive processes run by corporations at the expense of the environment and regular people. The result is an urgent and moving plea for accountability and change. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Remarkably moving and effective... The Two-Headed Whale is a grim reminder that our actions have long-lived consequences, but Winterbottom does give us some hope that healing can happen, whether it’s in Antarctica or closer to home.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
"[A] majestic look at the barbaric heyday of commercial whaling in the Antarctic Ocean and the lingering consequences for its practitioners and the planet."
—Cory Oldweiler, Boston Globe
“Remarkable... A heart-scalding, excruciatingly detailed account of life on the 20th century industrial whaling ships that roamed the Southern Ocean... Highly recommended.”
—The Vancouver Sun
"Urgent and moving."
—Publishers Weekly STARRED review
"[E]ngrossing....Part memoir, part environmental study, and part history text, The Two-Headed Whale evokes the drama and beauty of life at sea. It also captures the nobility of Earth’s largest mammals and the devastation wrought by the whaling industry.
—Foreword Reviews
"Winterbottom captures, like nothing else I’ve read, the ambiguities that Antarctica inveigles into the traveller’s heart and mind. Her superb descriptions of daily life on a whaler have the sharp tang of immediacy."
—John Harrison, author of Forgotten Footprints
"A moving exploration of the historical imagination. Sandy Winterbottom reaches down—into herself, into the past, into the deep sea and finds heart-struck tragedy, the fabulous glory of the natural world, and that siren yearn of simple mystery that keeps us, all, searching. So much has been lost. Here is a journey that wrests a small and precious gift from oblivion."
—D. Graham Burnett, author of Trying Leviathan and The Sounding of the Whale"
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."
—The Sunday Post
"A triumph of research... A moving and compassionate eulogy for a young man who, without Winterbottom, would have remained anonymous and unremembered."
—The Herald
