I would also recommend The Arctic Grail as a good companion read. It covers the history of the British quests for the North Pole and the Northwest Passage, with the Franklin expedition being a significant part of that overall story. It also really drives home the point of how much the British love a good heroic failure!
It is a fantastic book, and a great miniseries adaptation.
Just a note though, in the context of this conversation, it was written before much of the big discoveries of the ships, and other historical research came out, so it is largely speculative after last contact (obviously the supernatural elements are pure fiction)
