I remember falling asleep as a kid listening to Ernest Shackleton’s account of his South Pole expedition on audiobook. I’ve read a lot of fiction and nonfiction about polar exploration, especially the grueling quest to reach the South Pole and the disastrous hunt for the Northwest Passage. The other secondary characters are well-drawn, though I did sometimes lose track of the tertiary and minor characters. The reader can’t help but root for Jonathan every step of the way, even when he makes mistakes.

Try surviving when the winds are howling so loudly you can’t hear your own breathing, and you’re running low on food, trapped, with nowhere to go…ĭid I make you shiver? Well, if this seems like your jam, then you absolutely have to read Ally Wilkes’ debut novel, All the White Spaces.In Jonathan, Wilkes creates a compelling character you feel for as he reckons with the elements, his own grief and guilt, and the constricting social and gender norms of the early twentieth century. You think surviving when you’re lost in the woods is hard? Try surviving when it’s sixty below zero and dark 24/7. I love survival horror, but polar horror is next level. Plagued by misfortune and unnatural weather, Jonathan and the rest of the crew soon realize they’re being hunted by something malevolent which preys on their deepest regrets and fears. Aided by his childhood friend, Harry, Jonathan stows away on an expedition led by James “Australis” Randall. A brief synopsis: After losing both his brothers in World War I, Jonathan is determined to shed his former identity and fulfill a lifelong desire he and his brothers shared to explore Antarctica.

All the white spaces ally wilkes