The Ice Lovers

Helen, an historian, journeys to a slowly disintegrating Antarctic in search of the story of Nara, a young scientist who disappeared three years before. She is presumed dead, though her body has never been recovered. When an international emergency forces Helen to overwinter in the Antarctic, a more complex story than the official record emerges. Sitting at Nara’s desk, reading her diaries on a snowed in Antarctic base, Helen wonders if the ice will ever give up its secrets. 


The Ice Lovers is a haunting story of ghosts and ice, beauty and obsession, and the terrible consequences of unrequited love.




"Like the ice if its subject, the writing in the novel hides great complexities with surface simplicity and clarity. McNeil has a sure and deft touch with prose, and an ability to blend, for each character, profound inner experience with the awkwardness of social interactions." Globe & Mail