BF1 ORIGINAL FICTION
THREE WENT EAST
In 1912, Douglas Mawson, Belgrave Ninnis and Xavier Mertz set out to explore Antarctica's uncharted eastern wilderness. When disaster strikes, their scientific expedition becomes an extraordinary struggle for survival, marked by devastating loss and almost unimaginable endurance.
ABOUT THE STORY
Three men set out. Only one returned.
November 1912. In the frozen wilderness of Antarctica, three explorers leave their base at Cape Denison and head east into dangerous, largely uncharted territory.
Douglas Mawson, Belgrave Ninnis and Xavier Mertz have a scientific mission: to map the landscape, make vital observations and return with knowledge of a world few people have ever seen.
But Antarctica has little regard for human ambition.
The three men battle relentless winds, treacherous glaciers and exhausting conditions. Every mile demands careful decisions. Every piece of equipment matters. And beneath the seemingly endless snow lie dangers that cannot always be seen.
Then catastrophe strikes.
A devastating accident claims one of the explorers and much of the expedition's essential supplies. Forced to abandon their original mission, the two survivors begin a desperate journey back towards safety.
As food disappears, the dogs weaken and the Antarctic wilderness becomes increasingly unforgiving, the men face decisions no expedition should ever have to make.
When a second tragedy strikes, Mawson is left alone.
Starving, injured and hundreds of miles from safety, he must find the strength to continue through a landscape that has already taken everything from him.
And even if he survives, returning home will mean confronting the lives that could not return with him.
THREE WENT EAST is a powerful historical survival novel based on the astonishing true story of Douglas Mawson's Antarctic expedition. A deeply human account of courage, companionship, sacrifice and the extraordinary will to survive when hope itself becomes difficult to hold on to.