Book Review: All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes
Genre: Horror - Historical
Age: Adult
Format: ebook
This one took a while to get going. It’s a very slow start. Things gradually pick up when Jonathan and his friend make their way onto James “Australis” Randall’s ship, but it’s not until they reach the Antarctic that things get really interesting.
Jonathan lives in the shadow of his brothers. When they’re killed in the battlefields during the First World War, he decides to fulfil their dream and stows away on an expedition going to Antarctica. Jonathan enlists the help of Harry, his brothers’ best friend, and the only one who knows of Jonathan’s past. If Jonathan’s secret is discovered, the consequences could be far-reaching, but on the ship he’s able to live as his true self. But as the ship makes its way south, it becomes clear the shadow of war is long, reaching out not just for Harry, but the other men on board, too.
Initially, I was a little uncertain about the representation here. At parts, it feels a little shallow, but that might just be me! It felt like there was some details missing, but overall I ended up really liking Jonathan’s whole journey and arc, and appreciated how Wilkes’ balanced Jonathan’s queerness with the historical horror side of the plot. Put simply: Jonathan fully understands who he is, but struggles to get others to see him the same. Which isn’t just something Jonathan deals with throughout the novel, as we see many of the other men struggling with the way they’re perceived by others, and how they want to be seen.
I found the dynamic between Jonathan and the other characters really done well, too – firstly the sibling dynamic between him and his two older brothers, who Jonathan clearly idolises. His brothers treat him, however, as a little kid, often leaving him behind, and this is partly what drives Jonathan to fulfil their dreams, though once he is on board the ship it becomes clear Jonathan really feels like he belongs, like he’s found himself where he’s meant to be. Harry I found quite frustrating as a character, but it’s partly simply because of who he is. He sees himself almost as the ‘third brother’ to Jonathan, the only one able to protect him in the absence of the others, while also unable to see Jonathan as Jonathan, almost mirroring the way his brothers viewed him, while there’s a deeper element here of Harry possibly not wanting to see Jonathan clearly.
This book is about an expedition gone wrong, and a supernatural force lurking in places that make you wonder if anyone was ever meant to walk there, but underlying that is a story about masculinity, about toxicity and manipulation, about the relationships between men and the currents that can drive them apart, and it’s set at a time when almost every single person in Europe was dealing with the fallout from the First World War, whether that was grieving lost family members, or dealing with trauma from their own experiences on and off the battlefield, and we see that reflected in the men on the ship with Jonathan. The way the men view each other is so crucial to their survival, and it’s when they start turning on each other that things go very wrong.
Overall, although it’s very slow to start with, I really enjoyed this book, and it’s one I’ve found myself thinking more and more about since I finished reading it. If you like ghost stories about grief, and cold, isolated settings, this one is worth your time.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
Bluesky: @elleturpitt.bsky.social
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I received this ebook from Titan Books for review consideration.
