Sun at Midnight
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4.4 • 14 Ratings
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
An epic love story and adventure set against the stunning backdrop of Antarctica.
Alice Peel is a geologist. She believes in observation and proof. But now she stands alone on the deck of a rickety Chilean ship as a stark landscape reveals itself. Instead of the familiar measurable world, everything that lies ahead of her is unknown and unpredictable.
Six weeks earlier her life was comfortably unfolding in an Oxford summer. Then, with her relationship suddenly in pieces, she accepted an invitation to join a group working at the end of the earth: Antarctica.
James Rooker is a man on the run. He's been running since his childhood in New Zealand. Now, there is nowhere further to go. He has taken a job working on the same small Antarctic research station.
Alice discovers an ice-blue and silver world, lit by sunlight. Nothing has prepared her for the beauty of it, or the claustrophobia of a tiny base shared with eight men and one other woman. The isolation wipes out everyone's past, and tension crackles in the air. But there is a jolt of recognition between Alice and Rooker that is like nothing she has ever known. And it is in Antartica that she discovers something else that will change her life forever … if she survives.
Reviews
‘A compelling story juxtaposed with breathtaking descriptions of the landscape.’ Woman and Home
'Gripping romance.' Eve
'The majesty and hostility of the landscape leap off the page.' Daily Mail
‘A good read.’ New Books
Praise for Rosie Thomas:
‘Rosie Thomas writes with beautiful, effortless prose, and shows a rare compassion and a real understanding of the nature of love.’ The Times
‘Honest and absorbing, Rosie Thomas mixes the bitter and the hopeful with the knowledge that the human heart is far more complicated than any rule suggests.’ Mail on Sunday
‘A story full of passion… will keep you reading long after bedtime.’ New Woman
‘Thomas’s novels are beautifully written. This one is a treat.’ Marie Claire
About the author
Rosie Thomas is the author of a number of celebrated novels, including the bestsellers The Kashmir Shawl, Sun at Midnight, Iris and Ruby and Constance. Once she was established as a writer and her children were grown, she discovered a love of travelling and mountaineering. She has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally, spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica and travelled the silk road through Asia. She lives in London.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Thomas brings the Antarctic to life in this novel, in which one woman's exploration of the snow-covered landscape is as much a scientific expedition as it is a time of self-discovery. Alice Peel is a geologist and professor at Oxford University who enjoys the predictable, if not exciting, life she shares with her boyfriend. But when she discovers he is cheating on her, she ends the relationship. Though she has already turned down a request to join an expedition to Antarctica and follow in her explorer mother's footsteps, Alice changes her mind and decides to join it. Thomas lovingly depicts Alice's journey and the peace and beauty at Kandahar Station, where, nevertheless, the allure of the frozen tundra is complicated by the knowledge that a simple misstep could result in death. Alice's attraction to Rooker, a secretive member of their expedition, provides another layer of intrigue, especially when disaster looms and he may be the only person who can save her. Illuminating yet quietly revealing, Thomas's latest is elevated by its unique setting and its strong characterization.
Customer Reviews
Wow factor
I vaguely remember reading "The Kashmir Shawl” & having travelled to India several times loved this book enough never to share with friends but keep on the shelf as a ‘keep sake’ novel! Now “Sun at Midnight” has me yearning for an excursion to the Antarctic. What a brilliant book. Every page had me living intensely, lovingly & entwined with the characters & landscape as the story unfolds till the final page hoping beyond hope that it would end as I wanted but thinking maybe it would’t. Brilliant book in my opinion & thrilled to see there many more to select from this prolific author.