When the Night Comes: A Gripping Mystery Novel - Perfect for Evening Reading & Book Club Discussions

This book tells two stories, one about a girl in Hobart, Tasmania, and one about the Danish-built and crewed ice breaking ship the Nella Dan. The two stories touch and run parallel, but do not really entwine. It gives a wonderful description of life on the ship down in the Antarctic and the role it played in the lives of the scientists it serviced, but more personally how the ship was so central to the lives of the crew. It really was a comfortable and well loved home for those men for many months at a time. At the same time the girl's story tells of a child from a broken marriage living with her mother and younger brother, trying to make a new life away from an abusive father. The cook off the Nella Dan meets the mother and subsequently a number of the Danish sailors visit the house with much laughter and friendship. The girl loves the cook, and the feeling is definitely reciprocated, but the relationship between the mother and the cook is not strong enough to keep him in Tasmania. Eventually he returns to Denmark, to his island home, but he often recalls the girl and she has learned so much from him about the Antarctc that she becomes a scientist and travels there herself. A lovely bond between a man needing a family and a girl needing a good man as a father figure. This is not creepy or unsettling at all, but rather a really good story well written about realistic characters and a real ship.