Carrie is a Scottish rescue swimmer out of her depth in the High Arctic is pitted against Ross, the owner of an oil rig with a guilty conscience. While Amaruq, an Inuvialuit oil-rig worker is caught between two worlds.

Stranded on the Arctic ice with a starving polar bear and a half-dead stranger is Carrie’s left with nothing but deadly choices, while Ross and Amaruq face their own crossroads. Lives hang on their decisions. An intelligent, urgent, white-knuckle ride through the brutal Canadian Arctic, this is a novel that will get you thinking, keep you guessing – and leave you reeling. Whitehead’s vivid depiction of the hazards of ruthless extractivism couldn’t be more timely – and if there’s a Nerves of Steel Award, its heroine, Carrie Essler, would win it hands down.

From the cruel Arctic to the corporate backrooms of shady Big Oil, White Road is an authentic and gripping eco-thriller of survival, battled out at the edge of everything.