Cherry
Sara Wheeler
Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1886-1959) was one of the youngest members of Captain Scott's final expedition to the Antarctic. Cherry undertook an epic journey in the Antarctic winter to collect the eggs of the Emperor penguin. The temperature fell to seventy below, it was dark all the time, his teeth shattered in the cold and the tent blew away. 'But we kept our tempers,' Cherry wrote, 'even with God.'
After serving in the First War Cherry was invalided home, and with the zealous encouragement of his neighbour Bernard Shaw he wrote a masterpiece. In The Worst Journey in the World Cherry transformed tragedy and grief into something fine. But as the years unravelled he faced a terrible struggle against depression, breakdown and despair, haunted by the possibility that he could have saved Scott and his companions.
This is the first biography of Cherry. Sara Wheeler, who has travelled extensively in the Antarctic, has had unrestricted access to new material and the full co-operation of Cherry's family.
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About Sara Wheeler
Reviews for Cherry
The Times
Beautiful...written with unfailing eloquence and grace, and great admiration for its subject
Independent
Brilliantly succeeds not only in bringing this modest man disarmingly to life but also in recreating the England of his time and social setting...a formidable accomplishment
Sunday Telegraph
Beautifully written... Wheeler's vocabulary to evoke this luminous and cruel continent appears limitless
New York Times
With this wonderful biography Sara Wheeler has now vaulted into the front rank of modern British writers...this volume is so much more than a story of one remarkable man. It is among other things an exploration of the mind, a tour through the notions of national identity and pride, and a celebration of the tensile strength of the human spirit
Simon Winchester There is insight and elegance in her writing, and the crystal-clear understanding that has made possible the ghostly re-incarnation of this elusive man
Sunday Times
She brilliantly communicates the icy spell that holds her, and held Cherry, in its frozen grip
Observer
The Antartic world and its explorers linger long after the book is finished
Literary Review
Superb
Guardian