Wheeler, Sara 1961–

PERSONAL:

Born March 20, 1961, in Bristol, England. Education: Brasenose College, Oxford University, B.A. (honors), 1984.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Gillon Aitkin, Aitkin & Alexander, 18-21 Cavaye Place, London SW10 OT9, England.

CAREER:

Writer and critic.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Shortlisted for Travel Book of the Year, 1996, and finalist for Thomas Cook Award, both for Travels in a Thin Country; Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica chosen by Beryl Bainbridge, London Daily Mail, as one of the best books of 1998, also chosen one of Seattle Timess top ten travel books of the year. Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Trustee of London Library.

WRITINGS:

An Island Apart: Travels in Evia, Little, Brown (London, England), 1992, new edition, Tauris Parke (London, England, 2007.

Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1994, Modern Library (New York, NY), 1999.

Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, Jonathan Cape (London, England), 1996, Random House (New York, NY), 1998.

Dear Daniel: Greetings from Antarctica (children's book, with illustrations by the author), MacDonald Young Books (London, England), 1997, published as Greetings from Antarctica, Peter Bedrick Books (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor, with Dea Birkett) Amazonian: The Penguin Book of Women's New Travel Writing, Penguin (London, England), 1998.

Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Jonathan Cape (London, England), 2001, Random House (New York, NY), 2002.

Too Close to the Sun: The Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton, Jonathan Cape (London, England), 2006, published as Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton, Random House (New York, NY), 2006.

Author of a BBC Radio documentary about the Antarctic titled The Big White; book reviewer for newspapers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

SIDELIGHTS:

Travel writer and biographer Sara Wheeler has written several books based on her visits to various parts of the world. An Island Apart: Travels in Evia details her journey to the Greek island of Evia and into its culture. A Greek scholar, Wheeler managed to successfully explore most of the island—even the hinterlands, where civilization has yet to invade and where most tourists do not visit. Her fluency in Greek gained her access to households, and she even received the honor of serving as a godmother to a newborn infant. In her book, Wheeler provides readers with insight into the Greek persona through such disarming displays as when villagers find it humorous when a donkey is struck by lightning. According to Frederic Raphael, writing in the Times Literary Supplement, Wheeler is "unusually forthright on the selfishness and cruelties of the Greeks, and on their sometimes dismaying sense of humor." While Raphael admired both Wheeler's tireless pursuit to find ruins and her evident knowledge of the subject, he remarked that her writing style is "full of cliches." Overall, however, the reviewer found Wheeler's look into the island of Evia "intimidatingly seductive."

According to New Statesman reviewer Tony Gould, Wheeler's adaptability and refusal to take "no" for an answer yields fine results in Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile. The book details her exploration through Chile, from the northern deserts to the very southernmost tip, a part of the country she obviously favors. Wheeler has all manner of experiences in Chile and takes full advantage of just about any opportunity for travel journalism. She manages to stay at a deluxe family hacienda, teams up for three days with three policemen at a remote forest outpost, and unknowingly is given a free air travel ticket because an official finds her "pretty." Wheeler, according to Gould, is adaptable enough to make the most of each situation and also able to bear it when she spends long periods of time alone. Politically, much is taking place in Chile during Wheeler's travels—the aftermath of the fall of a dictatorship, growing poverty and despair in the slums, and a concern with national identity—and Wheeler provides some political context in the form of history (a description of the Chilean emergence from Spanish rule in the 1800s). Gould called the work "a perceptive and entertaining account of a little-known country."

Wheeler's next travels, funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the British Antarctic Survey, produced the best-selling work Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica. Wheeler spent seven months in Antarctica, living with the male inhabitants of the region's scientific research stations. Not only does she provide overtones of her own spirituality and how it is affected by the otherworldly terrain, but she gives insight into the day-to-day life of the Antarctic researchers. According to Erik Stokstad of the New Scientist, Wheeler does not seem interested in the actual research being carried out at stations, which includes studies on ozone depletion as well as studies of organisms in penguin vomit that may indicate life on Mars. Instead, Wheeler describes the "seedy bars, practical jokes, and tedium that are all features of days in the frozen vastness." Wheeler also pays due respect to the many Antarctic expeditions in history. Lucretia Stewart, writing for the Times Literary Supplement, found Wheeler's "nostalgic affection genuine and moving." Stokstad commented that Terra Incognita could leave the reader "out in the cold." However, London Observer contributor Cressida Connolly called the work "funny, informative, touching, and candid." Michiko Kakutani, writing in the New York Times Book Review, stated that Wheeler "zeroes in on the people who have charted and continue to chart the region's stark and unforgiving terrain." A Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded that "Wheeler writes elegantly and movingly about the unearthly landscape and its effects."

Dear Daniel: Greetings from Antarctica, an epistolary account for children of her travels to the coldest continent, also received positive reviews. A writer for Publishers Weekly described it as an "informal yet informative" and praised its "fresh sense of humor."

Wheeler once told CA: "Antarctica, the subject of my book Terra Incognita, was the culmination of many other destinations. I found it was the perfect tabula rasa. Through it I was able to reach further into the psychic landscape: the most foreign country of them all."

Wheeler's acclaimed biography of an Antarctic adventurer, Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, received abundant praise from reviewers. The young privileged Englishman known as "Cherry" was sent to meet the ill-fated Robert Scott expedition returning from the South Pole in February 1912, but Scott and his men—two of whom were Cherry's best friends—froze to death just twelve miles away, before Cherry could find them. After the Antarctic winter had passed, ten months later, Cherry and a search party found their bodies inside a tent. The discovery represented a national tragedy for England. After Cherry returned home to his estate, he began a downward decline in health, tormented by depression and guilt over what he might have done to prevent the expedition's disastrous ending. After ten years of introspection, encouraged by his friend and neighbor George Bernard Shaw, he wrote a book about the two-year expedition. It includes the story of a five-week excursion to Cape Crozier in 1911, in which he and the two friends who later died with Scott went in search of the eggs of emperor penguins for scientific study. He titled his book The Worst Journey in the World after the egg-hunting journey, in which he and his friends nearly succumbed in the minus-75-degree temperatures of the frozen Antarctic. Cherry's book is considered one of the top adventure books of all time. Wheeler drew on his book, on Cherry's journals and those of other members of the expedition, and on interviews with his widow to construct her biography.

A contributor to Books@Random wrote: "Wheeler's biography brings to life this great hero … and gives us a glimpse of the terrible human cost of his adventures." Jay Freeman, writing in Booklist commented that Cherry "examines the man and his times with credibility." Caroline Alexander, writing in the New York Times Book Review, also praised Wheeler's biography, saying: "one turns from her biography back to Cherry's own work with renewed, not undiminished, relish," adding that "her book, beautifully written throughout, takes fire in the Antarctic chapters, where irresistible forces converge." Philip Hensher writing in Spectator concluded: "If there is not a great deal to say about the last thirty years of [Cherry's] life, at least Sara Wheeler tells it with evident affection and admiration; she clearly loves her subject deeply. The polar material … gains here from a biographer who knows the Antarctic extremely well, and can tell us with feeling exactly what it is like to stand in a wind-chill factor of minus 115 degrees."

Wheeler explores the life of another famous adventurer in Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton. Considered one of the last of the English gentleman adventurers, Finch Hatton (1884-1931) was the handsome, charming, and athletic lover of Karen Blixen (whose memoir, Out of Africa, written under the pseudonym Isaak Dinesen, chronicled their affair). He hunted big game and enjoyed socializing among fellow wealthy expatriates in Africa, dying young when he crashed the plane he was flying while scouting for elephant. Reviewers found Wheeler's biography atmospheric and engaging. A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that Wheeler "masterfully captures [Finch Hatton's] allure," while Margaret Atwater-Singer, writing in Library Journal, praised her "striking" descriptions of Africa and her ability to "create a rich sense of place and time." Yet some critics felt that Wheeler's subject remains elusive. "No one could ever fully understand him," wrote Florence Williams in New York Times Book Review, "and ultimately, not Sara Wheeler." Making a similar point, Times Literary Supplement contributor Henry Hitchings observed that "psychological insight tends to give way to colour—often thickly applied." Also criticizing the book for "lack of critical distance," Hitchings nevertheless assessed Too Close to the Sun a "vividly enjoyable biography."

Wheeler once told CA: "I write narrative travel books. I try to lead the reader by the hand through the landscapes I observe. I try to travel inward as well as outward, back as well as forward."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

African Business, December, 2006, review of Too Close to the Sun: The Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton, p. 64.

Biography, summer, 2006, Henry Hitchings, review of Too Close to the Sun.

Booklist, March 15, 2002, Jay Freeman, review of Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, p. 1206; March 1, 2007, Jay Freeman, review of Too Close to the Sun, p. 58.

Children's Bookwatch, June, 1999, review of Greetings from Antarctica, p. 1.

Entertainment Weekly, April 27, 2007, Thom Geier, review of Too Close to the Sun, p. 145.

Geographical, July, 2007, Nick Smith, review of Too Close to the Sun, p. 92.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 1999, review of Greetings from Antarctica, p. 971; January 15, 2002, review of Cherry, p. 96; January 15, 2007, review of Too Close to the Sun, p. 68.

Library Journal, May 1, 2007, Margaret Atwater-Singer, review of Too Close to the Sun, p. 86.

New Scientist, September 21, 1996, Eric Stokstad, review of Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, p. 54.

New Statesman, January 28, 1994, Tony Gould, review of Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile, p. 39.

New York Times Book Review, May 9, 1999, Michiko Kakutani, review of Terra Incognita, p. 42; May 5, 2002, Caroline Alexander, "The Best Fellows in the World," review of Cherry, section 7, p. 10; April 29, 2007, Florence Williams, "Under African Skies," p. 12.

Observer (London, England), October 6, 1996, Cressida Connolly, review of Terra Incognita, p. 18.

People, March 23, 1998, "A Woman in from the Cold," p. 41.

Publishers Weekly, February 23, 1998, review of Terra Incognita; June 7, 1999, review of Greetings from Antarctica, p. 84; March 18, 2002, review of Cherry, p. 90; January 1, 2007, review of Too Close to the Sun, p. 39.

Spectator, November 3, 2001, Philip Hensher, review of Cherry, p. 48; March 4, 2006, "Doing Nothing in Particular Very Well," p. 39.

Times Literary Supplement, July 31, 1992, Frederic Raphael, review of An Island Apart: Travels in Evia, p. 10; December 13, 1996, Lucretia Stewart, review of Terra Incognita, p. 30; February 22, 2002, Jonathan Dore, "Blaming the Weather," review of Cherry, p. 5; March 31, 2006, Henry Hitchings, "An Engine of Myth."

Washington Post Book World, July 18, 1999, Jennifer Howard, reviews of Travels in a Thin Country and Terra Incognita, p. 10.

ONLINE

Books@Random,http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/ (June 17, 2002), reviews of Cherry and Terra Incognita.