Fatal passage: The untold story of John Rae, the Arctic adventurer who discovered the fate of Franklin. This item is unavailable.Fatal passage: The untold story of John Rae, the Arctic adventurer who discovered the fate of Franklin

The true story of the remarkable John Rae - Arctic traveller and Hudson's Bay Company doctor - a tale of imperial ambition and high adventure. In 1854 Rae solved the two great Arctic mysteries: the fate of the doomed Franklin expedition and the location of the last navigable link in the Northwest Passage. But Rae was to be denied the recognition he so richly deserved. On returning to London, he faced a campaign of denial and vilification led by two of the most powerful people in Victorian England: Lady Jane Franklin, the widow of the lost Sir John, and Charles Dickens, the most influential writer of the age. With this is story of courage and determination, McGoogan aims to capture the essence of one man's indomitable spirit. It is his redemption of Rae's rightful place in history.

"Rae...was hounded into obscurity, banished from the pantheon of approved Victorian Arctic explorers, and was the only important one not to be knighted."

"Rae emerges from the shadows to take his place among the most intriguing of the 19th-century Arctic explorers. Delightful reading"

"Ken McGoogan's passionate and immaculately researched book...is a sort of Arctic whodunit."