What do you think?
Rate this book
Ice Shock: A Love Story
The year is 2010. An Icelandic volcano has thrown an ash cloud into the atmosphere and, across the world, planes have stopped flying. Leah and Niall, twenty-somethings in love, find themselves strangely restless, and set out on different but parallel paths; Niall travels to a polar station in Antarctica, where the strange, lonely beauty of the ice mirrors the fragility of his hopes, while Leah studies writing in England, surrounded by tradition yet struggling to find her place.
Separated by thousands of miles, but determined to stay connected, they learn that true communication can be as fragile as the melting landscape between them. Ice Shock is a love story that asks what it means to stay close even when we are far apart – and how love can endure, in a world changing catastrophically by the day.
Separated by thousands of miles, but determined to stay connected, they learn that true communication can be as fragile as the melting landscape between them. Ice Shock is a love story that asks what it means to stay close even when we are far apart – and how love can endure, in a world changing catastrophically by the day.
276 pages, Hardcover
Published March 2, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Read
October 1, 2025#IceShock – Elleke Boehmer
#KaravanPress
Falling in love was not part of her dream. Winning the award that would enable her to pursue her training as a writer was the essence of Leah Nash’s future. Then they met on the night bus from Edinburgh to London. She fell asleep on his shoulder and awoke to a person who shared her initials in reverse, and a birthdate, one who could complete her sentences, and colour her world. Niall Lawrence also had no intention to fall in love. But that changed when he met her.
There were doubts, “I don’t have enough ideas, enough energy. I drop away from you, I feel useless” (46) but the reality was simple: “Some days, it’s so huge, this intensity we have, us together.” (53) Her dream would, however, become the trigger setting their paths in opposite directions, she would study writing in England whilst he would work at a polar station in Antarctica for fourteen months. Due to be separated by a longitudinal parabola, they vowed to look at the stars and the moon, trying to find each other across thousands of miles.
The novel considers several themes relating to distance and separation and dissects the questions arising therefrom at the hand of physical variations and the influence that these unpredictable inconsistencies have on what were once regarded as social and emotional convictions.
In stark contrast with Leah finding herself to be the human equivalent of a captured rodent running on an academic wheel, Niall is in a constant struggle with the elements, boredom, and isolation. The ice exposes that “…we’re all lacking, nothing is adequate, we need each other, no one is enough on his own” (136) but also “It showed him up for who he was. The ice probed him and found him lacking.” (170)
Just like in the physical world, storms and solar flares wreaked havoc with communication, so did time and distance. Words grew in ambiguity, became lost in translation: “The message didn’t say love, it did say love. It was filled with love.” (149) Communication fatigue set in: “It was what he wanted to say, it was too much to get out.” (174) Certainties melted away like the ice caps, revealing the eternal rocks beneath.
Ice Shock is both a love story and an investigation into human connections, a delicate exploration of environmental influences on the nature and comprehension of communication.
#Uitdieperdsebek
#KaravanPress
Falling in love was not part of her dream. Winning the award that would enable her to pursue her training as a writer was the essence of Leah Nash’s future. Then they met on the night bus from Edinburgh to London. She fell asleep on his shoulder and awoke to a person who shared her initials in reverse, and a birthdate, one who could complete her sentences, and colour her world. Niall Lawrence also had no intention to fall in love. But that changed when he met her.
There were doubts, “I don’t have enough ideas, enough energy. I drop away from you, I feel useless” (46) but the reality was simple: “Some days, it’s so huge, this intensity we have, us together.” (53) Her dream would, however, become the trigger setting their paths in opposite directions, she would study writing in England whilst he would work at a polar station in Antarctica for fourteen months. Due to be separated by a longitudinal parabola, they vowed to look at the stars and the moon, trying to find each other across thousands of miles.
The novel considers several themes relating to distance and separation and dissects the questions arising therefrom at the hand of physical variations and the influence that these unpredictable inconsistencies have on what were once regarded as social and emotional convictions.
In stark contrast with Leah finding herself to be the human equivalent of a captured rodent running on an academic wheel, Niall is in a constant struggle with the elements, boredom, and isolation. The ice exposes that “…we’re all lacking, nothing is adequate, we need each other, no one is enough on his own” (136) but also “It showed him up for who he was. The ice probed him and found him lacking.” (170)
Just like in the physical world, storms and solar flares wreaked havoc with communication, so did time and distance. Words grew in ambiguity, became lost in translation: “The message didn’t say love, it did say love. It was filled with love.” (149) Communication fatigue set in: “It was what he wanted to say, it was too much to get out.” (174) Certainties melted away like the ice caps, revealing the eternal rocks beneath.
Ice Shock is both a love story and an investigation into human connections, a delicate exploration of environmental influences on the nature and comprehension of communication.
#Uitdieperdsebek
July 20, 2026
Elleke Boehmer has a new novel in the world! This book is full of spare but lovely writing, and is a tense love story across the latitudes that has you hoping for the best. Elleke also brings in the bigger things happening in the world, a volcano that shuts down global air traffic and glass dust drifting across the northern hemisphere from Fukushima, as is only fitting for a story that expands from near the top of the world to the absolute bottom. Nial and Leah struggle to hold onto their bond by looking up at the same stars and moon across hemispheres. But the stars aren't the same in the different hemispheres. Ice Shock, A Love Story examines how to be close to someone who is physically far away in a world that seems to be throwing everything in your way.
As a bonus, this is a beautifully built book. The end papers are a shocking purple that fits well with the stunning image on the cover. And the font - Sabon - is readable and balanced, the paper smooth and lush, and the publisher's design choice to put the page numbers a third of the way up the side of the page is surprising and delightful!
As a bonus, this is a beautifully built book. The end papers are a shocking purple that fits well with the stunning image on the cover. And the font - Sabon - is readable and balanced, the paper smooth and lush, and the publisher's design choice to put the page numbers a third of the way up the side of the page is surprising and delightful!
July 23, 2026
A young woman on a long bus journey falls asleep on the shoulder of the stranger sitting next to her. That's how it all begins between Leah and Niall. It's a sweet, fairly conventional, start to the 'love story' part of the title of Elleke Boehmer's book. Mind you when the main title is 'Ice Shock' I kind of knew this was not going to be a conventional read. It is not. And that's why I love it.
In the second part of the book Niall takes a year long job in Antarctica. Separation by distance and failing comms. Well, it's bound to be a test of love isn't it? It's not for me to tell you more except to say that there is a third part to the book where Niall does return to the UK.
Niall's experiences in the Antarctic, especially the winter months, are brilliantly told although the real 'shock' for me happens elsewhere.
Two more things. Behind the book a tale of catastrophic world events and of climate change is also woven in neatly. Never dominating, but always there, playing a role in the story.
Last of all. Forty years ago I got a job in the Falklands, 8000 miles from my own recently found true love. Those difficult months echoed loudly inside my head.
In the second part of the book Niall takes a year long job in Antarctica. Separation by distance and failing comms. Well, it's bound to be a test of love isn't it? It's not for me to tell you more except to say that there is a third part to the book where Niall does return to the UK.
Niall's experiences in the Antarctic, especially the winter months, are brilliantly told although the real 'shock' for me happens elsewhere.
Two more things. Behind the book a tale of catastrophic world events and of climate change is also woven in neatly. Never dominating, but always there, playing a role in the story.
Last of all. Forty years ago I got a job in the Falklands, 8000 miles from my own recently found true love. Those difficult months echoed loudly inside my head.
July 5, 2026
I loved reading this book - it draws you in deeper and deeper, from a fairly standard modern love story (think David Nicholls) into a more spiritual place. The lovers in this case are separated by half a planet in physical space (though luckily for them, there is no time-difference which is something that in practice I hate most of all when travelling away from my loved ones) and yet their inner lives are connected. In fact, I would like to read it all again to understand better the ways the connection happens - I am sure it is probably more profound than I could grasp on the first read!
But the other important thing that recommends it to me, is that journey towards each other is not straightforward. Despite their closeness, there is distraction and a 'real life gets in the way' feel to it.
So - for a very readable and yet profound love story that will remind you of your youth (if you're an olden like me), I give this 5 stars.
But the other important thing that recommends it to me, is that journey towards each other is not straightforward. Despite their closeness, there is distraction and a 'real life gets in the way' feel to it.
So - for a very readable and yet profound love story that will remind you of your youth (if you're an olden like me), I give this 5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews