This Everlasting Silence: The Love Letters of Paquita Delprat and Douglas Mawson 1911–1914

The love between explorer and scientist Douglas Mawson and his fiancé Paquita Delprat is documented in this collection of their letters sent between Australia and Antarctica over a period of 22 months. Following their engagement in 1910, Mawson left Delprat for an Antarctic expedition prolonged by a disastrous trek and a wrenching yearlong wait for the next steamer that could take him home. Filled with mutual longing and despair, these absorbing letters reach a level of written passion that is rarely found today. Providing remarkable personal context for Mawson’s work, this document adds a touch of human sentiment to the history of both science and the Antarctic.