Fourteen year old Symone is raised and supported by her mother and "Uncle Victor", her father's old business partner. Using the ruse of taking Symone and her mother on a trip to Paris, Victor cleverly manages to cause Symone's mother to stay behind. Then from Paris, Victor takes Symone on a trip to Antarctica. But this trip is not all it seems. Victor has built a love of Antarctica in Symone. She is practically deaf (wears hearing aids) and her closest friend is the late explorer Captain Laurence "Titus" Oates, one of the five explorers with the doomed Scott expedition. Titus is her imaginary friend she communicates with particularly when she is "lost", alone, and/or confused. Symone at times during this trip feels very lethargic and confused. Eventually, when they are on Antarctica, she feels that less than the other tourists. They struggle with illness and then the loss of their plane and belongings.
That is when the story takes a twist. Victor and his accomplice, Mr Bruch and son, leave in a stolen arctic vehicle to fine Symme's Hole. This is supposed to be an opening into the earth which leads to another living sphere. But the adventure does not turn out as planned. Finally, before the loss of Victor, Symone discovers that her father's death, loss of her hearing, and this doomed adventure are all actually Victor's fault. Symone lives though through the help of Titus, who guides her and keeps her fighting spirit up until she makes her way back to the vehicle. Symone later realizes that it wasn't just her imaginings in her mind of Titus that saved her, because Titus shares something with her that she didn't know. It was his spirit/ghost that helped her to survive.
At times I thought this book was going to take a different twist. I thought that Victor was drugging and raping her. I thought Victor was going to sell her in Buenos Aries. Then I realized he planned for her and Sigurd to be the human mates to inhabit the inner world. Wow, what a strange but interesting novel! Someone that loves learning about expeditions and survival would enjoy this detailed journey through treacherous conditions.
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