Sun at Midnight - Hardcover

Thomas, Rosie

3.74

1,587 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1468314955 ISBN 13: 9781468314953

Publisher: Harry N Abrams Inc, 2017

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From critically acclaimed author and "master storyteller" Rosie Thomas (Cosmopolitan), a sweeping saga of loss and redemption that centers on Alice, who as a scientist, relies on method, precision, and tangible proof. But when her relationship with Oxford artist Peter Brown collapses spectacularly, she is forced to use her skills to evaluate her own life for the first time. In her thirties, childless, and tied to Oxford by her work, it's time to break away. Alice accepts an invitation to travel to the southernmost point of the earth, Antarctica.Upon arrival, she is awestruck by the strangeness of a continent painted in shades of blue and white, lit by an unearthly permanent sunlight. And nothing has prepared her for the close confines of a small base shared with eight men and one other woman. It's in these close quarters that she develops a strong attraction to a man shrouded in danger and mystery. It's in this beautiful but unforgiving environment that Alice discovers something that could change her life forever . . . if she survives.

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Review:

A compelling story juxtaposed with breathtaking descriptions of the landscape.

Thomas vividly describes the shivery blue-and-white frozen landscape, the biting cold, and the ever-present danger that means one person's small mistake could doom the entire team.

From the Author:

It is always intriguing to catch a glimpse of another world. I love novels that give me a picture of a place I have never visited, a slice of history or an insight into a different culture the more exotic the better. For me, it s a very strong element of the delight that utter immersion in a book can bring.
It works the other way round, too. When I travel it s always with an eye open for a possible setting, an unfamiliar world I can recreate in fiction, and when I discover one there s always a distinct shiver of recognition. This is what happened when I first saw Antarctica.
It is so beautiful, with an unearthly and forbidding loveliness to which no photograph or film can do justice. It is the harshest place on earth, and the most seductive to the imagination. Almost my first thought was that I wanted to set a novel there. The memory of the heroic narratives of Mawson, Scott and Shackleton was utterly daunting, but - maybe if I wrote a love story? Antarctica would be much more than just a setting. It would be both the place and the passion that drew my lovers together, forged their bond, and then threatened to destroy them.
My practical problem was how to get back there, not as a tourist but to live and work on the ice, however briefly. It is a difficult place to visit. You can t just turn up and hope for the best.
In the end, I struck lucky. I was invited to spend a month in a tiny research station, alongside a dozen geologists and biologists. Even though they had satellite communications, hot showers, motorised skidoos, they were still pecariously perched on a promontory between the giant glaciers and the icebergs sailing in the bay. They were not so far removed from the old polar heroes.
I followed the scientists, who became my friends. I watched the ice and the mercurial weather, dreamed and worked and wrote, and out of that experience came Sun at Midnight.
I was in love when I wrote it, with a place and a time.
I hope you will enjoy my lovers passion and their adventure and that the book will also give you that precious glimpse of another world.

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