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Ice
An iceberg is towed to the harbor, to the astonishment of colonial Sydney. As it melts, the iceberg is revealed as a tomb to the perfectly preserved body of a young sailor, who died 40 years before. Here is the story of Malcolm McEacharn, a brilliant businessman who brings joy to early Sydney in the form of an iceberg and who will later bring electricity to Melbourne, become its Lord Mayor, and be one step away from becoming Prime Minister—but he is driven by an obsession that threatens to destroy him and his world. A parallel story set in contemporary Sydney tells of a young biographer who lies in a coma, and her bereft husband's desperate attempts to resurrect her by unearthing the truth about her subject McEacharn. Both stories are redolent with longing, suffused by regret, and illuminated by extraordinary imagery, hypnotic language, and the specter of suspended life in the "mythical country of ice." From the frozen, desol
326 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2008
1 person is currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Louis Nowra
54 books40 followersLouis Nowra (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. His most significant plays are Così, Byzantine Flowers, Summer of the Aliens, Radiance, and The Golden Age. In 2007 he completed the The Boyce Trilogy for Griffin Theatre Company, consisting of The Woman with Dog's Eyes, The Marvellous Boy and The Emperor of Sydney. Many of his plays have been filmed.[1]
He was born as Mark Doyle in Melbourne. He changed his name to Louis Nowra in the early 1970s. He studied at Melbourne's La Trobe University without earning a degree. In his memoir, The Twelfth of Never, Nowra claimed that he left the course due to a conflict with his professor on Patrick White's The Tree of Man. He worked in several jobs and lived an itinerant lifestyle until the mid-1970s when his plays began to attract attention.
His radio plays include Albert Names Edward, The Song Room, The Widows and the five part The Divine Hammer aired on the ABC in 2003.[2]
In March 2007, Nowra published a controversial book on violence in Aboriginal communities, Bad Dreaming.
Nowra has been studied extensively in Veronica Kelly's work The Theatre of Louis Nowra.
He resides in Sydney with his wife, author Mandy Sayer.
From Wikipedia
He was born as Mark Doyle in Melbourne. He changed his name to Louis Nowra in the early 1970s. He studied at Melbourne's La Trobe University without earning a degree. In his memoir, The Twelfth of Never, Nowra claimed that he left the course due to a conflict with his professor on Patrick White's The Tree of Man. He worked in several jobs and lived an itinerant lifestyle until the mid-1970s when his plays began to attract attention.
His radio plays include Albert Names Edward, The Song Room, The Widows and the five part The Divine Hammer aired on the ABC in 2003.[2]
In March 2007, Nowra published a controversial book on violence in Aboriginal communities, Bad Dreaming.
Nowra has been studied extensively in Veronica Kelly's work The Theatre of Louis Nowra.
He resides in Sydney with his wife, author Mandy Sayer.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 18, 2025
An engaging historical fiction biography of Malcolm Mc Eacharn, a businessman who brings an iceberg to Sydney, who later was a pioneer of the first successful refrigerated meant voyage from Australia to London, who brought electricity to Melbourne, Australian, and who became Lord Mayor of Melbourne. McEacharn was born in Scotland, partnered in business with Andrew McIllwraith, who is ten years his senior, and a more cautious personality. They remain friends for many years after their business interests diverge. Malcolm is a hard working ,fix it type of man who is visionary and ambitious. His one true love, Ann, whom he marries, dies within the first year of their marriage. Malcolm later marries to sidestep himself out of financial difficulties. A parallel story, set in contemporary Sydney, is of a young biographer of McEacharn who lies in a coma. Her husband tries to resurrect her by digging up the truth about McEacharn.
There are many interesting characters, some based on real people. Frenchman Eugene Nicolle teaches Malcolm the importance of dressing to impress.
A very interesting, eventful novel with good plot momentum and memorable characters.
The author states that a lot was made up about Malcolm. ‘I made up much of the macabre, funny stuff in the basement’. ‘Malcolm had a life that wasn’t exactly the same as the Malcolm I created..’
This book was shortlisted for the 2009 Miles Franklin Award.
There are many interesting characters, some based on real people. Frenchman Eugene Nicolle teaches Malcolm the importance of dressing to impress.
A very interesting, eventful novel with good plot momentum and memorable characters.
The author states that a lot was made up about Malcolm. ‘I made up much of the macabre, funny stuff in the basement’. ‘Malcolm had a life that wasn’t exactly the same as the Malcolm I created..’
This book was shortlisted for the 2009 Miles Franklin Award.
October 25, 2022
Parts of this book , mostly about the ice, how it was invented and what was done with it was great. And worth reading just to read about the iceberg that was found and transported back to Sydney Habour. I loved that part of the book.
But the obsession with the main character about his wife was less believable and the obsessive nature of his love was refocus.
Non the less I still relate the story of the iceberg to people so it has stuck in my mind. Yep read it. It was worth it to see how ice was invented and why we needed it.
But the obsession with the main character about his wife was less believable and the obsessive nature of his love was refocus.
Non the less I still relate the story of the iceberg to people so it has stuck in my mind. Yep read it. It was worth it to see how ice was invented and why we needed it.
February 10, 2024
Interesting book. Parallel stories intertwined, with far more emphasis in the 1800s. The luxury of ice in an Australian summer, the invention of freezing units, electricity. An obsessive and unhealthy love. The thing that shocks me most is that this was short listed for the Miles Franklin Award, but hardly anyone has read it. It should be read,
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January 1, 2009Occasionally, during the reading of Ice you’ll need to pause and run a cool piece of ice across your brow, as this is a fever of a novel. There are two storylines which bisect neatly, running across the timeless trajectory of lost love. The one which opens the book takes place in the 1880s, and follows the development of Malcolm McEacharn, a real life explorer/businessman who, in collaboration with his friend Andrew McIlwraith brings an iceberg to Sydney. At this point in the novel the only hint that we have of a second story is the odd interjection of the narrator to someone named Beatrice, referring to the dinner party we’re immersed in as something from the past. Later, the second story becomes clear. Set in modern day (21st Century) Sydney, the narrator is Rowan Doyle, and his wife Beatrice, a biographer, lies in a coma. It is Beatrice’s biography of Malcolm McEacharn that Rowan is finishing, and his story and Malcom’s develop an odd parallel as Rowan begins to read his work to his comatose wife, willing her to wake up and correct him.
The narrative structure is relatively complex, with an extraordinary number of links between the two stories, and indeed between the reader and the characters, giving it a strong post-modern quality. At the same time, both stories are linear and simple, so that it’s easy to read this book as both an historical fiction, and a modern day realist tragedy. That Nowra manages this balance in a way that is seamless to the reader, without impacting on the fictive truths of either story, is credit to his great skill as a novelist. The historical context of Malcolm’s story is fascinating, and very well researched. The reader becomes engrossed in the present tense of his Malcom's affair, the intensity of his loss, and the odd co-mingling of his growing hunger for what he’s lost, and his hunger for success and power. Despite the magical realism that underlies Malcolm’s story, there is enough verisimilitude to encourage the reader to do his or her own research. Malcolm traverses very real settings, from the evocative Yorkshire town of Goathland (used as the setting for Harry Potter films, and the Heartbeat TV series), to Glasgow, the streets of London, Queensland, Japan, Sydney, Melbourne, and Antarctica, all of which are described poetically, with original metaphor enriching the beauty of the scenery:
"In the mornings a delicate lacework of ice had settled firmly on the decks and masts, and when the dawn broke it was as if the ship had been constructed of diamonds during the night. In wild weather spray rose from the sides of the vessel into tall columns of white mist that fell onto the deck, covering it with a silvery veil. (100)"
Malcolm does more than bring ice to Sydney. He also brings refrigerated meat from Australia to London, electricity to Melbourne, and order to the Tokyo electric tram system. He's a man of science and technology, able to make a locomotive go, and so interested in biology that he amasses the biggest collection of foetuses and embryos in Australia. But he's also haunted and obsessed by his first wife's death, so much so that he temporarily gives himself up to the occult and slowly slides towards a kind of fevered madness that also begins to affect the narrator as both stories progress. As we learn more about why the modern day Beatrice is in a coma the stories begin to parallel one another. One of the key links is the ice which pervades the story, not only in the form of the iceberg that opens the novel, but also Ice the drug, ice as refrigeration and a symbol for modernity, and the more theoretical notion of being frozen; arrested; put on hold:
"Not a day goes past when there aren't newspaper articles about global warming, melting ice caps, hundreds of icebergs moving relentlessly towards New Zealand and about bodies that have lain in ice for decades, even centuries, but are now emerging from their graves and which confirm what is in this book...(320)"
The real ice and metaphorical ice begin to blur, just as the real history and the fictive history; the real Ann and the progression of fictive Anns; begin to blur. This is where the story becomes something more than simply a good historical tale. It's a story of love and loss, and the ephemeral nature of happiness. The story traverses a wide terrain, taking in, among other things, the seamy underbelly of a timelessly drug riddled Sydney, a fancy dinner with Queen Victoria, or the outrageous excesses of an icy battlefield training dome in Imperial Japan. The minor characters are also well drawn, from the flamboyant inventor dandy Eugene Nicolle, the wild lovestruck psychic Elise, or the well endowed drunkard (mostly on the alcohol used to preserve specimens) Ford. There's a Dickensian grandeur to Ice which is made all the more powerful by the way in which Nowra twists time's arrow. Those reading this solely as an historical fiction may be made uncomfortable by the way in which the reader is drawn into the story, placed in the role of the unconscious Beatrice; as silent confident. For those of us who like our fiction as rich, complex, and painful as possible, Ice is a tremendous story, and one which begs to be read more than once.
The narrative structure is relatively complex, with an extraordinary number of links between the two stories, and indeed between the reader and the characters, giving it a strong post-modern quality. At the same time, both stories are linear and simple, so that it’s easy to read this book as both an historical fiction, and a modern day realist tragedy. That Nowra manages this balance in a way that is seamless to the reader, without impacting on the fictive truths of either story, is credit to his great skill as a novelist. The historical context of Malcolm’s story is fascinating, and very well researched. The reader becomes engrossed in the present tense of his Malcom's affair, the intensity of his loss, and the odd co-mingling of his growing hunger for what he’s lost, and his hunger for success and power. Despite the magical realism that underlies Malcolm’s story, there is enough verisimilitude to encourage the reader to do his or her own research. Malcolm traverses very real settings, from the evocative Yorkshire town of Goathland (used as the setting for Harry Potter films, and the Heartbeat TV series), to Glasgow, the streets of London, Queensland, Japan, Sydney, Melbourne, and Antarctica, all of which are described poetically, with original metaphor enriching the beauty of the scenery:
"In the mornings a delicate lacework of ice had settled firmly on the decks and masts, and when the dawn broke it was as if the ship had been constructed of diamonds during the night. In wild weather spray rose from the sides of the vessel into tall columns of white mist that fell onto the deck, covering it with a silvery veil. (100)"
Malcolm does more than bring ice to Sydney. He also brings refrigerated meat from Australia to London, electricity to Melbourne, and order to the Tokyo electric tram system. He's a man of science and technology, able to make a locomotive go, and so interested in biology that he amasses the biggest collection of foetuses and embryos in Australia. But he's also haunted and obsessed by his first wife's death, so much so that he temporarily gives himself up to the occult and slowly slides towards a kind of fevered madness that also begins to affect the narrator as both stories progress. As we learn more about why the modern day Beatrice is in a coma the stories begin to parallel one another. One of the key links is the ice which pervades the story, not only in the form of the iceberg that opens the novel, but also Ice the drug, ice as refrigeration and a symbol for modernity, and the more theoretical notion of being frozen; arrested; put on hold:
"Not a day goes past when there aren't newspaper articles about global warming, melting ice caps, hundreds of icebergs moving relentlessly towards New Zealand and about bodies that have lain in ice for decades, even centuries, but are now emerging from their graves and which confirm what is in this book...(320)"
The real ice and metaphorical ice begin to blur, just as the real history and the fictive history; the real Ann and the progression of fictive Anns; begin to blur. This is where the story becomes something more than simply a good historical tale. It's a story of love and loss, and the ephemeral nature of happiness. The story traverses a wide terrain, taking in, among other things, the seamy underbelly of a timelessly drug riddled Sydney, a fancy dinner with Queen Victoria, or the outrageous excesses of an icy battlefield training dome in Imperial Japan. The minor characters are also well drawn, from the flamboyant inventor dandy Eugene Nicolle, the wild lovestruck psychic Elise, or the well endowed drunkard (mostly on the alcohol used to preserve specimens) Ford. There's a Dickensian grandeur to Ice which is made all the more powerful by the way in which Nowra twists time's arrow. Those reading this solely as an historical fiction may be made uncomfortable by the way in which the reader is drawn into the story, placed in the role of the unconscious Beatrice; as silent confident. For those of us who like our fiction as rich, complex, and painful as possible, Ice is a tremendous story, and one which begs to be read more than once.
July 13, 2009
Recently pipped at the post for the Miles Franklin award by Tim Winton's 'Breath, Louis Nowra's 'Ice' is a fascinating read, delving into an alternative colonial Australia and exploring notions of ambition, love, obsession, transience and the immutable nature of time.
The novel opens with the towing of an Iceberg through the Sydney heads, much to the astonishment of the establishment of colonial Sydney. One of the two men responsible, Malcolm McEachern, becomes the protagonist of the colonial aspect of the story, while from time to time the narrative slips into the present, as a man completes the work of his biographer wife, who was writing a work on the life of McEacharn when she was put into a coma in tragic circumstances.
The novel takes us through McEachern's life - his obsession with his dead first wife, his drive and ambition to become the richest man in Australia, his ruthlessness and his increasingly unbalanced internal life. It's a compelling read; Nowra, who is without a doubt one of Australia's most significant contemporary novelists and playwrights, demonstrates his skill with narrative and character, skating his picture of colonial Melbourne along the edge of reality with a delicate touch.
The characters are compelling, the historical aspects impeccably researched and executed, the philosophical aspects of the story suitably intriguing and the writing undeniably accomplished, and yet for all that, for me at least, the novel didn't entirely work.
I suspect that this was largely due to what I felt was a degree of 'clunkiness' in the contemporary aspect of the narrative - while it serves its purpose of framing the events of the past, to me it felt somewhat 'tacked on' - more a device to allow Nowra access to his main interest; that of McEachern and his obsessions, than as an essential and fundamental aspect of the overall narrative. The introspective first person POV of the contemporary character addressing his comatose wife was, for me, often intrusive and sometimes a little laboured.
I'm fully aware, however, that while this aspect of the novel didn't work for me, it will for others. I know of at least one other reader who loved the book, for precisely this reason, so take my comments with a grain of salt.
'Ice' is an important novel, A fascinating read, and is well deserving of consideration.
The novel opens with the towing of an Iceberg through the Sydney heads, much to the astonishment of the establishment of colonial Sydney. One of the two men responsible, Malcolm McEachern, becomes the protagonist of the colonial aspect of the story, while from time to time the narrative slips into the present, as a man completes the work of his biographer wife, who was writing a work on the life of McEacharn when she was put into a coma in tragic circumstances.
The novel takes us through McEachern's life - his obsession with his dead first wife, his drive and ambition to become the richest man in Australia, his ruthlessness and his increasingly unbalanced internal life. It's a compelling read; Nowra, who is without a doubt one of Australia's most significant contemporary novelists and playwrights, demonstrates his skill with narrative and character, skating his picture of colonial Melbourne along the edge of reality with a delicate touch.
The characters are compelling, the historical aspects impeccably researched and executed, the philosophical aspects of the story suitably intriguing and the writing undeniably accomplished, and yet for all that, for me at least, the novel didn't entirely work.
I suspect that this was largely due to what I felt was a degree of 'clunkiness' in the contemporary aspect of the narrative - while it serves its purpose of framing the events of the past, to me it felt somewhat 'tacked on' - more a device to allow Nowra access to his main interest; that of McEachern and his obsessions, than as an essential and fundamental aspect of the overall narrative. The introspective first person POV of the contemporary character addressing his comatose wife was, for me, often intrusive and sometimes a little laboured.
I'm fully aware, however, that while this aspect of the novel didn't work for me, it will for others. I know of at least one other reader who loved the book, for precisely this reason, so take my comments with a grain of salt.
'Ice' is an important novel, A fascinating read, and is well deserving of consideration.
August 7, 2021
I love Louis Nowra's writing and was very much looking forward to reading this unusual tale of 'Ice coming to Sydney', that is, an iceberg. Yes, they towed an iceberg into Sydney Harbour in the late 1800s! Dick Smith towed in a fake one a few years ago but this is Nowra's imagining of an iceberg towed into colonial Sydney. His description of what the ice brings to the city is incredible; beggars are given lumps of ice instead of a coin, sudden ice lolly stands spring up and the iceberg is carved up and hurredly distributed to the sweltering city. This was my favourite part so far because of its fairytale quality. Another image that stuck with me was the idea of the iceberg being 'played' into the harbour by bands 'playing loudly, but not the same tune, so that the iceberg's languid journey was accompanied by a cacophony of jaunty popular music songs and fervent religious hymns.'
However, much as this opening is extraordinary, I am less engaged by the rest of the novel. I don't feel close to the main protagonist as Nowra goes back in time to explain what led him to try the iceberg towing escapade.
In short, I am not in a hurry to finish the rest of this novel, though it is worth borrowing for the opening chapter alone.
However, much as this opening is extraordinary, I am less engaged by the rest of the novel. I don't feel close to the main protagonist as Nowra goes back in time to explain what led him to try the iceberg towing escapade.
In short, I am not in a hurry to finish the rest of this novel, though it is worth borrowing for the opening chapter alone.
June 10, 2012
A curious mix of fact and fiction. Most of the details of the life of Sir Malcolm McEacharn are true, which could easily lead you into thinking that the fictional ones are too.
Nowra writes a story of two men deeply in love with their wives - 1 dead, and 1 in a coma. The beginning of the book was confusing, with the story of Malcolm interrupted by Rowan's comments to his comatose wife Beatrice. However once you grasp the idea that the story is being told by Rowan, to Beatrice, about Malcolm, these sidebars stop being intrusive.
Nowra writes a story of two men deeply in love with their wives - 1 dead, and 1 in a coma. The beginning of the book was confusing, with the story of Malcolm interrupted by Rowan's comments to his comatose wife Beatrice. However once you grasp the idea that the story is being told by Rowan, to Beatrice, about Malcolm, these sidebars stop being intrusive.
August 16, 2014
What a treat this turned out to be! I’m making my way through the Miles Franklin shortlist, and from some of the reviews I’d read I really wasn’t sure that I was going to like this one, but it turns out to be a most interesting book. For more, see http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/200...
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August 11, 2011A meandering tale with a the theme of sadness and loss. By having all the dialogue in italics rather than in speech marks, it gave the impression that everyone whispered... which certainly suited the book. In some ways it felt like a sequel to "Map of the Human Heart", with the same unfocused sense of place and character, but a sharply focused theme.
February 11, 2013
This is an odd but enjoyable book that apparently just missed out on the Miles Franklin award. I do like quirky and it is a really intriguing mix of fact and fiction. I found myself frequently googling because often the factual elements of this book were more bizarre than fiction. 'Ice' dragged a bit at the end its odd subject matter was sometimes alienating. Defs worth a read though!
July 10, 2009
Very disappointing - started off with a good story, but felt uneasy with hints at something which still hadn't developed into anything by the middle of the book so gave up. What should have been an extra layer was just a distracting non-event. Expected better.
April 19, 2010
Liking it so far.....finalist for the Miles Franklin
February 28, 2010
Ordered this book all the way from Australia!
Need to read it again, as it's a story from three different perspectives.
Pretty good though!
Need to read it again, as it's a story from three different perspectives.
Pretty good though!
July 1, 2012
Brilliantly written, brought me to tears on many occasions.
July 21, 2014
This book surprised me - hadn't real used it was based on facts and half way thru book googled Malcolm. Also surprising were the various sexual scenes. But above all was the theme of deep love.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews