My Midnight Sun by John Shors

‘If you quit, you waste gift of life.’

Thailand, 2004.  Owen Sterling and his wife Sarah are on their honeymoon anticipating a bright future together when tragedy strikes.  Sarah is swept away in a tsunami.  Owen’s grief overwhelms him and freezes him.  After a period back in the USA, he returns to Asia to try to make peace.

A chance encounter in Bangkok results in Owen meeting Suchin, a young Thai woman facing her own mortality.  Suchin has a dream: she would like to see the mountains before she dies.  Owen wants to make her dream a reality and buys them tickets to Nepal so they can climb into the Himalayas.

Can Suchin survive long enough to realise her dream?  Can Owen face his own challenges?

I found this a bittersweet read.  While I initially had trouble accepting that two strangers could undertake such a journey together, I was quickly swept up in the journey.  I liked Suchin and hoped (against all the odds) that she would (somehow) recover.  I wanted Owen to find his way.  I wanted them both to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  Life does not always work out the way we want it to.  Sadly.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith