Into White Silence - Anthony Eaton

Recommended for ages15-18.

Every now and then you stumble across a really unusual story, one which plays with story conventions, or challenges you to think in new ways about something you thought you understood. "Into White Silence" is an extraordinary book for both those reasons. It has a haunting power to it, dragging you back time and time again by some mysterious quality.

On a narrative level, it tells the story of Lieutenant William Downes and his companions onboard the doomed vessel "Raven", as it heads south to explore Antarctica in 1922. Their tale is one of "tragic future, of ice, ambition and madness". Inasmuch this story is like any other tale of Antarctic adventure, but for one difference. The narrator who retells their story is not an omniscient (all-knowing) powerful narrator. It is in fact the author himself, simply retelling a story he happened to stumble across during a holiday in the 1990's. This very fact adds so much credibility to the story, that you will be left reeling with the profundity of Downes' final words.

Although marketed as a work of fiction, every part of you will want to believe this book. In terms of its believability, it outclasses the majority of other books I've read. In terms of readability, you will need to have an interest in historical fiction to enjoy Eaton's discussions of ship life, although the human stories within the book will move even the most stubborn reader.

Recommended for people who enjoy fiction which could very well be true, ages 15 and over. This is because younger readers would probably get bogged down in the historical detail. Also because Eaton's descriptions of madness and the violence of ambition could startle kids under 15.