tchotchke #42: From Antarctica With Love
My debut longread in The Atavist Magazine is here!
Two years ago, I discovered a love story hidden within Scott’s last Antarctic expedition—between two of his officers, Pennell and Atkinson. They survived the tragedy which took Scott’s life and shocked the world, but further dangers lay ahead for them.
Many research trips, archive visits, emails, sources uncovered, and letters transcribed later, I’m incredibly proud to present the full story in The Atavist: “From Antarctica, With Love.”
If you happened to read my early blog posts about these guys, you know the basics of this story, but I hope you’ll take the time to read the longer piece. It’s about 12,500 words long, so might take you between 30-45 minutes to read. Early reviews: “I cried.” “This is one of my favorite articles of the year.” “But did they have sex though?”
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped me get this story across the finish line: the original Discord transcription teams; Sarah Airriess, Anne Strathie, and Bizzie White (Pennell’s great-niece) who all accompanied me on my research trip to Oddington last year and supplied an immense amount of helpful information and references; Naomi Boneham at the Scott Polar Research Institute; Adele Jackson at the Canterbury Museum; and last but certainly not least my editor Jonah Ogles who had the superheroic task of helping me cut down my original draft of over 20,000 words (lmao) and managed to accomplish it without making me completely lose my mind.
If you enjoy the piece and want to help get the word out about it, I’d love you forever if you reposted on X or Bluesky, or shared it yourself on Instagram or Facebook. My goal is to get this in front of some big-time Hollywood honchos who, after they have finished weeping, call me up and offer me the big bucks to make it into an Oscar-bait movie starring Josh O’Connor. (He could play either one of them, I’m not picky.)
To accompany the story, I’ve teamed up with my good friend Gen to do a Pennell/Atkinson themed guest playlist for her music newsletter, Fidelity. You can check out the songs and listen here.
Proud momma!!!