In this moving narrative, conservation scientist Louise K. Blight recounts her summer studying Adélie penguins on the isolated Ross Island in Antarctica, sharing living quarters with pioneering penguin biologist David Ainley. Together over a 3-month period, they document how the region’s penguins are being affected by the world’s largest-ever iceberg, recording details of penguin courtship, incubation, and chick-rearing against a backdrop of the mental and emotional impacts of extreme weather, ongoing isolation and twenty-four hours of daylight. Interwoven with stories of early explorers and modern-day Antarcticans, Blight conveys the solitude and the endless silence that both consumes and delights her. This is a stunning work of natural history, science and polar travelogue, and a story about a female scientist navigating Antarctica’s extreme conditions and quirky human subculture.
This Book Review appeared in the JUN/AUG 2026 issue of
The Art of Healing.
