The White Darkness

Geraldine McCaughrean’s The White Darkness (2005) is a young adult adventure novel about a girl who travels to the Antarctic with her obsessive uncle and the danger he places her in when they venture into the freezing wilderness. It won the 2008 Michael L. Printz Award. McCaughrean is a prolific writer with more than 50 short plays and 120 books to her name. Before writing full-time, she worked in a London-based publishing house. She is the first writer to win the Whitbread Children’s Book Award three times. Although she primarily writes for teenagers, she also writes adult books.

The protagonist, fourteen-year-old Sym, is a deaf girl who struggles to fit in with her peers. Self-conscious, she feels that no one understands her. Highly intelligent, she spends much of her time reading and learning about historical figures. Her favorite hero is the British Army officer and Antarctic explorer, Titus Oates. Although he died in a blizzard decades ago, Sym is obsessed with his dashing good looks, bold spirit, and heroic personality.

Sym doesn’t just read about Titus and think about him all the time. She has imaginary conversations with him in her head. He offers her moral support and gets her through the tough times. Although he is imaginary, Titus is Sym’s only friend. Naturally, her mother worries about her, especially since her father died many years ago and she is alone all the time.



One day, Sym’s uncle, Uncle Victor, comes to visit. He plans to take Sym and her mother on a special holiday to France. Sym’s mother finds this a bit strange but she goes along with it because it will make Sym happy. Sym can’t wait to explore France and visit cool new places. Planning for the trip takes her mind off her dead father.

Sym doesn’t make it to France. Instead, Uncle Victor kidnaps her and takes her to the South Pole. Sym isn’t alarmed by this, because after all, she’s following in Titus’s footsteps. She plans to contact her mother at the first opportunity, just to prove she is safe, but Uncle Victor doesn’t give her the chance.

On the way to Antarctica, Uncle Victor discusses his plans. He believes in something called Symmes’s Hole. This is a mythical doorway to the Earth’s center, supposedly located in Antarctica. He wants to be the first person to discover the hole, and he needs Sym’s help. Sym thinks he is crazy but she humors him because she wants an Antarctic adventure.



In Antarctica, Uncle Victor meets up with two men, Manfred and Sigurd. Claiming to be Scandinavian filmmakers, they plan to steal Uncle Victor’s money. Although he doesn’t know this yet, Uncle Victor still doesn’t trust them, but he needs their help to hijack a plane to make for a special base camp. Manfred and Sigurd go along with this because it will easier to steal Uncle Victor’s money if he is busy flying a plane.

Meanwhile, Sym feels uncomfortable around the men. She knows they are hiding something, but she doesn’t know how to bring it up with Uncle Victor. Before she can say anything, Manfred attacks Uncle Victor. Uncle Victor kills him. Sigurd throws Uncle Victor and Sym from their vehicle and drives away to safety.

Uncle Victor doesn’t mind wandering around the frozen landscape because he soon finds a large, obscured hole. Naturally, he assumes that this is Symmes’s Hole. He tells Sym that he murdered her father before flinging himself down the hole. Stunned, Sym stands by and watches him plummet into the cavern. He dies on impact.



Sym is alone and terrified. She doesn’t know how to get home and she doesn’t understand why Uncle Victor did this to her. She thinks there is something wrong with her. Titus, however, encourages her to think back on everything she knows about her uncle. Normal uncles do not lead their nieces into certain danger, and they do not kill people. It is not Sym’s problem that Uncle Victor was a wicked man.

Sym reflects on everything. She realizes that Uncle Victor always manipulated her. He encouraged her to trust him and to believe all the bad things he said about her parents. All he really wanted was someone to go on this trip with him. Although she is hurt at first, Sym pulls herself together with Titus’s help. She asks him for courage, and he gives her the strength to walk back towards basecamp.

On the road, Sym meets Sigurd. At first, he doesn’t trust her. After all, she watched Uncle Victor kill Manfred. However, when Sym tells him what happened, Sigurd feels sorry for her and invites her into his truck. He gives her adrenaline to keep her warm and energized. Together, they drive around the landscape looking for help. They are finally discovered and Sym begins the long journey home to England, where it is time to say goodbye to Titus.