Book Review: All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

All the White Spaces
by Ally Wilkes (Wilkes)

All the White Spaces is historical suspense set in 1919 and 1920 during the age of early expeditions to Antarctica. Jonathan grew up listening to his older brothers obsess about joining one of these expeditions, but they’ve both recently died in the Great War. Jonathan himself feels smothered by his family’s expectations because he was assigned female at birth, so he becomes an expedition ship stowaway.

 

This book follows the conventions of gothic suspense where small things start to go awry, followed by increasing levels of disaster and hardship and unnatural strangeness. As a fan of naval stories and stories about danger and isolation, this was a perfect genre blend for me. If you happen to be familiar with Shackleton’s expeditions, this story is loosely modeled after his 1914 expedition but this is a slightly different world where there is no Ernest Shackleton and Antarctica holds an extra danger.

 

Be prepared for a tough read with lots of death and suffering, including for the sled dogs. It’s also a story that waxes poetic about this desolate winter country. If you weren’t already familiar with the three types of twilight, you will be after reading this book!

 

(Recommended to fans of Moby Dick by Herman Melville. If you enjoy this, another recent read-alike is The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister.)

 

( official All the White Spaces and Ally Wilkes web site )

 

Recommended by Garren H.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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