The White Darkness

THE WHITE DARKNESS; Geraldine McCaughrean; New York: HarperCollins, 2007; 369pp. Young Adult

Sym, a fourteen-year old hearing impaired girl who thinks her dead father didn’t love her, is obsessed with Antarctica, thanks in part to her “Uncle” Victor’s interest and
the polar regions books he gave her for every birthday. Tormented at school, Sym is delighted when Victor (her father’s former business partner) offers to take her and her mother to Paris for a three-day, two-night vacation. Sym's mother's passport goes mysteriously missing and Victor’s “Paris” vacation turns out to be a ruse to get Sym to Antarctica. Sym's excitement soon turns to dismay and then to a fight for her life when Uncle Victor’s true self and bizarre schemes are revealed. Lucky for Sym she is sustained through her troubles byTitus Oates, one of the five explorers who died in Robert Falcon Scott’s second Antarctic expedition, but who lives on in her mind as an extraordinary presence in this virtuoso novel of adventure and psychological suspense. Winner of the American Library Association’s 2008 Michael Printz Award for best young adult novel, “The White Darkness” was obviously originally written for a British audience who would be familiar with Scott’s second expedition. Some knowledge of that tragic journey makes this tale much richer and more accessible, and McCaughrean has added a postscript—Scott of the Antarctic—which she suggests should be reviewed in advance to help frame the story for anyone unfamiliar with polar exploration. “The White Darkness” is a richly imagined, beautifully well-written story that should lead many readers to the original story.

LW