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.