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Michelle Paver
Michelle Paver is the author of the popular Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, starting with Wolf Brother. She writes gripping historical fantasy for young readers.
Dark Matter
Synopsis
Set in 1937, Dark Matter by Michelle Paver follows Jack Miller, a working-class radio operator aboard an Arctic expedition bound for Gruhuken on Svalbard. What starts as a routine voyage becomes a slow descent into dread when the ship's wireless equipment begins transmitting something unsettling and inexplicable. Blending period detail with genuine gothic atmosphere, Paver crafts a haunting mystery about isolation, class tension among the crew, and a presence that refuses to be ignored.
Genres
Characters
Jack MillerProtagonist
A working-class radio operator on an Arctic expedition who becomes the ship's reluctant investigator into a mysterious presence.
Gus BalfourSupporting
The expedition's Oxford-educated leader, a charismatic golden boy whom Jack grows close to over the course of the voyage.
Algie CarlisleSupporting
A public-school geologist and dog-handler on the expedition whose casual cruelty toward the sled dogs unsettles Jack.
Teddy WintringhamCameo
One of the five original expedition members, a public-school friend of Gus who treats the Arctic voyage as a lark.
Hugo Charteris-BlackCameo
The expedition's glaciologist, another of Gus and Algie's Oxford friends who joins the voyage north.
Prix Masterton (2013)
Frequently asked questions
Did Dark Matter win any awards?
Dark Matter was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel (for 2010) but did not win; that year's award went to Robert Jackson Bennett's Mr. Shivers. The novel did win a Prix Masterton, France's genre-fiction award, in the Roman traduit (translated novel) category in 2013 for its French translation, 40 jours de nuit.