Into white silence, by Anthony Eaton

For almost two years now, the small leather-bound journal of Lieutenant William Downes has been sitting on a corner of my writing desk, defying me. I must confess that I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve sat here in the twenty months since the diary came into my possession, leafing through its pages and then staring out my study window at the distant Brindabella Mountains, sometimes for hours, trying to come to terms with the horrors contained within.

First, a bit of background. Some years ago Anthony Eaton, while researching for what he referred to as a “boys own adventure story” was presented with the opportunity to visit Antarctica as a guest of the Australian Antarctic Division. I heard him talk about this trip at a recent conference and he talked about the way the experience forced him to change the nature of his book.

What we have ended up with is essentially two stories intertwined throughout the book. One story is that of an author named Anthony Eaton who was given the opportunity to visit Antarctica as a guest of the Australian Antarctic Division (sound familiar?). He talks about his experience at Casey Station, his reaction to the story he uncovered there, and some of his experience back in Australia following up that story. Which leads us to the other narrative running through this book. The aforementioned story.

While at Casey Station, Eaton discovered a journal written by Lieutenant William Downes detailing a previously unheard of expedition to Antarctica in 1921-22. Sections from the journal are recorded describing the preparations for the trip, the people aboard, it’s aims, and it’s slow and increasingly inevitable failure. I am not spoiling the plot for you, as this outcome is indicated within the first few pages of the book.

Eaton has done something quite fascinating by adding his fictional self into the story and the first chapter of the story reads much like an author’s introduction, which is essentially what it is. But the use of so many real facts about himself and his trip serve to make it feel more real, or to blur the lines between fact and fiction. It is very well done.

The chapters taken from Downes’s diary are no less enthralling. After service in the First World War, Downes is invited by his former Captain to be involved in a mysterious adventure which turns out to be an expedition to Antarctica. Things start going wrong before they even reach the ice bound continent and only get worse as they travel further south. Although the eventual fate of the expedition is known to the reader all along, the unfolding of the story is no less captivating. It held me right to the very end, which is an impressive writing feat when that end is given away on page three.

Into white silence is a brilliant book. It is published as a young adult book but the main characters are all beyond that age themselves leading some people to argue that it should be considered an adult book. Eaton himself wrote a fairly weighty article about the nature of YA literature and this book in particular. I find it too difficult to say whether this book is one or the other, because I honestly believe it is both. I really think a lot of teens will like this book. I might hand it to some of the older Horowitz/Muchamore readers and see what they think. I also think a lot of adults will like it, but I feel that way about plenty of other YA fiction anyway.

The feeling the book left me with was odd. It wasn’t gut-wrenching or tear-jerking, more soul-emptying perhaps. After turning the last page I just had to drop the book and stare into space for a while. It was fascinating. I should say that I have spoken to a couple of other people who simply could not get into it, and plenty of others who loved it. For my money, Into white silence is very cleverly crafted and written, it grabbed and held me to the end and thoroughly deserves its place on the Children’s Book Council Awards shortlist. I would not be surprised if it wins.