The White Darkness

Today I finished the book I've been working on for the last couple of weeks. It feels like it took me awhile to get through this one, but it was completely worth it. The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean is about a modern-day British girl, Sym, who is swept up in the madness of her "uncle" Victor. Uncle Victor, a close friend of the family and her father's former business partner, has always encouraged Sym's facination with and love of "The Ice," or Antarctica. She has read every book, seen movies and documentaries and television shows. She even has Captain "Titus" Oates, one of Scott's fellow ill-fated explorers on his bid for the South Pole, in her head. Yes, he is an imaginary, yet very lifelike companion for lonely Sym, who has worn hearing aids since childhood and feels cut off and unlike her school mates. Uncle Victor has been a help to the family since Sym's father died prematurely, so no one's suspicions are raised when he takes Sym on "holiday" under false pretenses. They end up on The Ice, and his mad search for the mythical "Symmes' Hole" (named after John Symme) drags Sym into the harshest environment on earth.

McCaughrean's prose is gorgeous - lyrical and deeply descriptive. This is the 2008 winner of the Michael Printz award for excellence in Young Adult Literature, and it's a well-deserved honor. I would definitely reccomend it to anyone interested in a highly literary adventure and survival story.