Katie > Recent Status Updates

Aeneas Mackintosh my love

Spencer-Smith 😭
Also, I want to know everything about Aeneas Mackintosh. There is no biography about him and there needs to be!!!

Left alone in a tent on the Barrier whilst ill is one of the worst fates I can imagine in Antarctica 😬

My dear Cherry reappearing 😭 (although small error: Cherry was not the youngest member of Scott’s expedition. One of the youngest but not THE youngest)

Spencer-Smith gushing over Mackintosh and saying ‘we’re all absolutely in love with him’. My guy 😂

No spoilers so no names but the death on the river about two thirds into this is an incredibly powerful bit of writing in such concise and thought-provoking words. A short scene which sums up the themes beautifully.

I'm not qualified to judge the history in this book but I found a bit which I can give an interesting fact for! When a character jeers another for not having a parrot when he claims to be a pirate - parrots + pirates were only really linked as a trope by Treasure Island, decades after this. Minor minor quibble though but just thought it was interesting - what we think of pirates is actually Stevenson's fault!

‘Where am I?’ I asked.
‘You’re in Illinois,’ the old man said.
‘So, I’m in a free state?’
The men laughed. ‘Boy, you’re in America.’