This book was my favorite book in high school. Vicky Austin finds herself both in love and involved in an international mystery. Adam goes off to Antartica and Vicky is given the oppertunity to visit Antartica as a very generous birthday present. There she discovers the wonders of the penguins as well as a dark secret involving international affairs. Each chapter starts off with a bit from Vicky stranded on an iceberg and then flashes back to before she got there, which I find unique and an effective plot device. Re-reading it, I always discover bits and pieces I missed the first time, making the book have a not so obvious older reader appeal.

This might be the least successful of L"Engle's "Vicky" novels. For a long time she answered questions about "what happened to Vicky?" by saying that she wouldn't continue this protagonist's story until the moment was right and as someone who waited many years for that moment I was disappointed. Although L'Engle picks up the story where she left off after Ring of Endless Light, contemporary culture moved too fast, I think, in the interim. I wanted to love this book and wish I could report that I did.

This is a pretty good story about mystery and intrigue in the Antarctic. I enjoyed it.

Good teen/young adult novel, with international intrigue.

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