Unsung Hero: Tom Crean – Antarctic Survivor

By Michael Smith

Collins Press, npa, 357pps

Up until this book's first publication in hardback, Smith's hero was indeed left unsung. Now, in this third printing, Crean is given a wonderful run for his money and proves worth every cent of it. This is Boy's Own adventure material. Born into dire poverty in Co Kerry in 1877, Crean runs away from home, convinces the authorities that he is 16 (he was 15) and enlists in the British navy. The turning point in this adventure came in 1901 when a seaman went Awol from HMS Discovery in New Zealand. Discovery is captained by the legendary Robert Falcon Scott who is about to lead Britain's first exploration to the South Pole. Crean replaces the missing seaman. Scott's team fails to reach the South Pole and will try again, fatally. Smith's description of how Scott's team lurched to a halt just hours from their goal is haunting. Crean survives and will return to the Antarctic, this time with Ernest Shackleton. Smith's character sketches are penetrating. Shackleton is the great man-manager. Scott, conversely, was aloof and only a few degrees less chilly than the frigid landmass he was exploring. And Crean? Most certainly a man whom it would have been wonderful to know.

The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth

By Frances Wilson

Faber, £10, 287pps

Dorothy was inextricably entwined with her famous brother, the poet William. Indeed, there were rumours of incest, which Wilson dismisses. But devoted Dorothy certainly was. In one example of this, Wilson draws our attention to Dorothy's "Grasmere Journals" in which she made daily entries because, she said, "I will give William pleasure by it." It gave him more than mere pleasure. One of Dorothy's entries records daffodils tossing, reeling and dancing. Admittedly he acknowledged the debt: "She gave me eyes," he wrote. Never once did she think that her role in William's life would be supplanted and when he married Mary Hutchinson, Dorothy became depressed, isolated and finally deranged. A lot of labour has gone into this impressive biography.

His Illegal Self

By Peter Carey

Faber, £8, 272pps

Carey's themes of real and imagined characters on the run – notably Ned Kelly – continue here with the story of Che, whose parents are 1960s radicals, hence his name. Che lives with his grandmother in New York. His parents are on the run from the FBI because of their revolutionary endeavours. An arrangement is arrived at, whereby a go-between will take Che to see his mother. But on the day of the meeting, Che's mother, while making a bomb, blows herself up. Start a revolution? This woman couldn't start a car. Why the go-between didn't return Che to the granny is not gone into. Instead they leg it. Hugely emotional.

The Boat

By Nam Le

Canongate, £8, 272pps

THIS is an acclaimed debut of short stories, and rightly so. The huge geographical sweep takes in Iran, Colombia, New York. The titular boat is crammed with Vietnamese refugees. Storm-tossed bodies collide as the rotting boat lurches towards sanctuary. Some unfortunates are tipped overboard. An American artist about to undergo tests for cancer seems more concerned with his surgeon's bad breath, "like a fish has died in his mouth".