White by Marie Darrieussecq

White

Marie Darrieussecq

The year is 2015. Edmee (a radio operator) and Pete (an engineer) are working on a remote research station in Antarctica. In its beginning, this is not an easy book but the author creates a setting of such extreme cold and isolation, its conclusion left me caring about the characters and haunted by the ghosts of Scott and his companions.

Extract

Edmee turns around, but all she can see is whiteness melting into whiteness and, over a few metres, the traces left by her own feet in the snow - Armstrong's anti-skid soles in moon dust. But Armstrong was being followed, step by step, by the entire world's television channels - as the people about to walk on Mars will be accompanied too. Edmee Blanco is turning numb on her ladder. What the hell is she doing here?

Parallels
  • Antarctica on a Plate: Misadventures of a Polar Chef by Alexa Thomson
  • Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve