Degrees of Separation

On board an aircraft as it makes its way slowly from the Antarctic to New Zealand, three people sit quietly, reflecting on their past summer on the ice. Sally, a composer, has been searching for inspiration. She wasn’t prepared for the silence of Antarctica. William, a bird scientist, has been visiting since the 1960s. Estranged from his family, he has just completed his last summer on the ice. Marilyn, a young communications operator, has spent three months at Scott Base feeling isolated and lonely. She has had an affair with a young field-training instructor and now dreads the future. Contrasting the beauty and vastness of the Antarctic with the banality and discomfort of life on ice, Laurence Fearnley’s new novel focuses on themes of love and memory to capture the stories of three people stuggling to understand their journey.