The Cuckoo - Limited Edition

The Cold Edge is the official website of author and explorer Leo Carew. His UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY trilogy (The Wolf, The Spider and The Cuckoo) are available to buy now.

The third of four children, Leo grew up in the centre of London, in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Inspired by audiobooks, he developed a late interest in reading and began trying his hand at writing soon afterwards. It was at this time that he also developed a sneaking suspicion that the city was not for him and spent as much time as possible exploring remote areas. After school, this led to two formative months spent on expedition in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.

Three years followed reading Biological Anthropology at Cambridge University, most of which was spent staring out of the window, dreaming about colder climates. Obligatory time with serious studying done, Leo returned to Svalbard – Old Norse for “The Cold Edge” – where he lived in a tent for a year training and working as an Arctic guide. During this time, he revisited a novel he had begun at the age of 12 and began reassembling it in the considerable space offered by 24hr darkness. A reluctant return to London to train as a doctor and pursue a career as an army medic followed, during which time he completed his first novel, The Wolf.

Leo took a year out of his medical studies in 2018 to complete a second book, The Spider, written chiefly while overwintering on an abandoned Hebridean island. He further undertook an expedition to Greenland, when he and his teammate Matthew Hay succeeded in climbing two unclimbed peaks, and undertook climate change research.

Leo graduated as a doctor in March 2020 at the height of the first wave of COVID, and was immediately called up to work in a radically expanded intensive care unit at the Royal London Hospital. He has worked as an army doctor ever since, completing his third book, The Cuckoo, in his free time. He is currently working on a historical fiction novel alongside his work for the army, who receive regular entreaties to deploy him somewhere cold and wild.