Shiver : A Novel

Shiver : A Novel by Nikki Gemmell. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781740513241.

"I can catalogue Antarctica by touch. The touch of air sucked dry on my cheek, the fur of a day-old seal pup, the touch of an iceberg, a blizzard, a lover, the touch of sweat at minus twenty-three, of a camera stuck to the skin on my face, of cold like glass cutting into my skin, of a snowflake, of a dead man, of a doctors fingers on my inner thigh, of a tongue on my eye."Shiver is Nikki Gemmells first novel.It is the story of Fin, a young woman who gets the chance of a lifetime to go to Antarctica.Surrounded by the cruel beauty of the last great wilderness on earth, she finds herself transfixed by the power of the land.Travelling and living with a close-knit and idiosyncratic team, Fin learns the rules and taboos of community life in Antarctica, and then promptly breaks the strictest taboo of all - she falls in love. The consequences are shattering.Lyrical, haunting and sometimes painfully moving, Shiver is a first novel of great power and beauty.