Jean McNeil

What do we stand to lose in a world without ice? A decade ago, novelist and short story writer Jean McNeil spent a year as writer-in-residence with the British Antarctic Survey, and four months on the world's most enigmatic continent -- Antarctica. Access to the Antarctic remains largely reserved for scientists, and it is the only piece of earth that is nobody's country. Ice Diaries is the story of McNeil's years spent in ice, not only in the Antarctic but her subsequent travels to Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard, culminating in a strange event in Cape Town, South Africa, where she journeyed to make what was to be her final trip to the southernmost continent. In the spirit of the diaries of Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, McNeil mixes travelogue, popular science, and memoir to examine the history of our fascination with ice. In entering this world, McNeil unexpectedly finds herself confronting her own upbringing in the Maritimes, the lifelong effects of growing up in a cold place, and how the climates of childhood frame our emotional thermodynamics for life. Ice Diaries is a haunting story of the relationship between beauty and terror, loss and abandonment, transformation and triumph.

An Antarctic Memoir

Ice Diaries

From the author of Ice Diaries, winner of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival Grand Prize, praised by the New York Times as "stunningly written" and a Guardian Best Book of 2018. An unflinching exploration of love and boundaries in Brexit-crazed London. Richard Cottar is a respected independent film writer and director; his wife, Joanna, is his increasingly successful and wealthy producer. Together they are about to embark on a film about the life of Walter Benjamin, the German Jewish intellectual who killed himself in northern Spain while on the run from the Nazis in 1940. In what looks set to be the last year of Britain's membership of the European Union, Benjamin's story of exile and statelessness is more relevant than ever. But Richard and Joanna's symbiotic life takes a sudden turn when they cast a intelligent, sexually ambiguous young actor in the role of Walter Benjamin. In a climate of fear and a bizarre, superheated year redolent of sex and hidden desire, Richard and Joanna must confront their relationship, Benjamin's tragic history, and the future of their country. Taking its cue from Virginia Woolf's Orlando, Day for Night is an unsettling, riveting story of reversals -- of gender, power, and history.

A Novel

Day for Night

Uncover the darker side of paradise. A moody, sensual novel about forbidden passion and terrorism on the Indian ocean coast of east Africa.

The Dhow House

Antarctic work in progress

The ice diaries

The Rough Guide to Costa Rica is the ultimate travel guide to this incredible country, offering astute information on everything from its magnificent national parks to its lively cultural festivals. Find detailed practical advice on what to see and do throughout Costa Rica, whether you want to go turtle-watching in Tortuguero or surfing in Santa Teresa, and rely on our up-to-date descriptions of the best hotels, eco-lodges, restaurants and cafés - for all budgets. The guide also includes a full-color section highlighting some of the country's amazing outdoor activities, plus an engaging field guide to its abundant wildlife. Explore every region of this picturesque country with easy-to-use maps to make sure you don't miss the unmissable. Make the most of your holiday with The Rough Guide to Costa Rica.

The Rough Guide to Costa Rica

Representations of the Sublime in Three Works of Contemporary Antarctic Literature

The Empir(e)ical Sublime

From the author of Ice Diaries, winner of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival Grand Prize, praised by the New York Times as “stunningly written” and a Guardian Best Book of 2018. An unflinching exploration of love and boundaries in Brexit-crazed London. Richard Cottar is a respected independent film writer and director; his wife, Joanna, is his increasingly successful and wealthy producer. Together they are about to embark on a film about the life of Walter Benjamin, the German Jewish intellectual who killed himself in northern Spain while on the run from the Nazis in 1940. In what looks set to be the last year of Britain’s membership of the European Union, Benjamin’s story of exile and statelessness is more relevant than ever. But Richard and Joanna’s symbiotic life takes a sudden turn when they cast an intelligent, sexually ambiguous young actor in the role of Walter Benjamin. In a climate of fear and a bizarre, superheated year redolent of sex and hidden desire, Richard and Joanna must confront their relationship, Benjamin’s tragic history, and the future of their country. Taking its cue from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Day for Night is an unsettling, riveting story of reversals — of gender, power, and history.

Hunting Down Home is the compelling story of an unusual family and their last year together. Morag lives with her grandparents on a remote farm in Nova Scotia. She sees her mother only in slides sent from Africa and illuminated at night on the white refrigerator door. With lyrical intensity, Jean McNeil captures Morag's dawning perception of the violent bonds that hold her grandparents together, making readers feel the tension when Morag must inevitably choose between them.

Jean McNeil

About

Books

Join the club