“The White Darkness” by Geraldine McCaughrean
I heard about The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean, at Semicolon. Then I learned that it had won the Printz Award and was set in Antarctica. I was in.
Fourteen year old Symone has hearing aids, a problem fitting in, and an imaginary friend who lives in her head–there may be a connection between the last two. He’s Captain Laurence “Titus” Oates, and died ninety years ago on Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.
Symone’s uncle surprises her with a trip to London, then suggests they go south. He doesn’t mean the Riviera. They join a tourist expedition to Antarctica, and bad things happen. There are many things that don’t make sense, to Sym or the reader. While Sym is slow to catch on, all is revealed in time.
This novel has beautiful prose descriptions of what sounds like a wondrous place, and mixes history, mystery and imagination in a compelling way. This was a tremendous read.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Long story short, when my blog went down, I lost the site for Biblically Literate Book Club. I’m planning to recreate it, but it’ll have to wait until I can manage to find the time. I may try to post about the book club at Semicolon in the meantime.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I’m glad you enjoyed WHite Darkness. Unfortunately, when I lost the book club site, I also lost my review of the book. I did enjoy it, too, though.