Elona of the Abyss

London, 1905. A polar secret. An Antarctic grave.

Academics call it a hoax. Disgraced Oxford geologist Thaddeus Sterling calls it his holy grail: a curved fragment of fresh mammoth ivory masterfully etched with the face of a hauntingly beautiful prehistoric woman.

Driven by the promise of vindication, Sterling assembles an unlikely crew to locate a steaming volcanic chasm hidden deep beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. But their quest transforms into a brutal fight for survival when the ice ruptures beneath their feet, sucking them down a vertical chute into a terrifying, blue-lit underworld.

Trapped miles below the surface, they stumble into a thriving primeval pocket of humanity preserved since the Ice Age. At its centre is Elona, a savage princess who holds the key to an ancient prophecy.

When a catastrophic magma eruption splits the valley floor, the lost world begins to tear itself apart. The only way out is two thousand feet of glass, a handful of rope, and a tin of stolen fire. Stay and burn-or climb into the blinding white silence of the surface world, and take three hundred souls with you.