Review by Frank Plowright

In 1928 there’s a race to the North Pole by zeppelin that’s front page newspaper material. The Italian team succeeded, but three days later there’s been no further communication from them. New York reporter H.R. is dispatched north by his editor to get the story.

Even before we’re introduced to H.R., creator Ben Towle shows what’s happened to the Italian crew. They’ve crashed into the ice and snow. It’s fine scene-setter, as is meeting H.R. drinking in bar mid-afternoon despite 1928 being a year before the prohibition of alcohol was repealed. He doesn’t realise it when first seen, but he’s actually in last chance saloon, and his trip to the North Pole is an opportunity to dry out and concentrate on his journalism.

Towle is fictionalising events from from the life of Umberto Nobile whose singular career is well worth researching. Before the flight that crashed he’d already made a successful airship flight over the North Pole, but it became the subject of bitter disagreement, and Nobile was also unfortunate that the peak of his military career coincided with Benito Mussolini’s fascists ruling Italy.

There’s something of Seth’s lingering storytelling methods about Midnight Sun, the focus not always where expected and sensationalism something to be avoided at all costs, but atmosphere is a priority. Towle supplies not only what occurs on the harsh frozen ice, but also H.R.’s journey in a Russian ship, and the overall tone is melancholy, which isn’t surprising considering the circumstances. We’re aware the Italians know how slim their chances of survival are, and Towle shows the difficult choices that have to be made both on the ice and on the potential rescue boat, while H.R. performs his own rescue.

It’s not until the end that the full circumstances of the crash are revealed, or at least those Towle suggests in his fictional interpretation. It’s all solid, though. Beguilingly gentle, Midnight Sun is an incredible story seductively told.