Mawson: A novel of Antarctica

By W John Hackwell

Australian artist Graeme Morris boards a brutal German icebreaker bound for Antarctica, expecting a prestigious commission. Instead, he finds himself trapped on a voyage where every smile feels calculated, every silence feels loaded, and the frozen continent ahead hides a truth no one wants exposed.

As the ship battles savage seas and dark rumours spread about an unfolding disaster at Mawson Research Station, Morris starts to realise he may be the only one paying attention.

But he is far from an innocent observer. Locked into a rigid, mechanical existence by a severe congenital palsy, Morris is a ghost-living under a manufactured identity to escape a childhood trauma. He has built a steel wall between himself and the world to survive.

Then, a sudden family crisis back home and a cloud of blame for a murder at the base threaten to tear off his mask. Trapped between a deadly landscape and a growing sense that his past is catching up to him, Morris must uncover the truth before the ice closes over it forever.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1923601571
• ISBN13: 9781923601574
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Vivid Publishing
• Length: 174 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"