(Le Rouergue)

On the Solak peninsula high up in the Arctic circle, three men are cohabiting as best they can. Grizzly is an idealistic scientist conducting climate observations; Roq and Piotr are two soldiers with a troubled past who are in charge of protecting the land and its flag. Tensions arise when a new recruit in the person of an enigmatic soldier is airlifted in just before the long dark days of the Arctic winter set in. His silent and menacing presence brings out the latent violence that was already present within the group. When the polar night falls for several months, it becomes obvious that a drama is about to unfold. Who is this recruit really? From what quarter will tragedy strike?

In this debut novel whose stripped-down style reflects the sentiment of revolt that runs throughout, Caroline Hinault icily isolates her characters at the outer boundaries of the imagination, and her narrator’s streams of consciousness impregnate the pages with a tension that builds relentlessly towards an explosive finale.