NonFiction - Cold Burial By Clive Powell-Williams

The story of Jack Hornby, Canadian frontiersman, and his young cousin Edgar Christian and friend Harold Adlard is a tale of inspiration. The author, Clive Powell-Williams, tells the story relying upon the diary and letters from the party as they travel across Canada to their winter home on the Thelon River in 1926. We soon discover that Jack, though notorious for exploits on the Canadian frontier, is not an accomplished frontiersman. His decisions as he leads the two young greenhorns into the tundra end up costing the lives of all three men (due to starvation). Most of the story is told from the diary that Edgar (only 18 at the time) kept. Edgar’s diary reflects how all three stayed positive and fought to the very end before succumbing to death. In fact, during World War II the Nazi party printed this story in German as an mandatory read for young recruits illustrating the importance of duty and a never give up attitude. Overall this is well written as Clive often includes excerpts from Edgar’s diary to give an insight to what all three were experiencing as they tried to survive on the Thelon.