Geography
Reference for the background image:
R. Stöckli, E. Vermote, N. Saleous, R. Simmon and D. Herring (2005). The Blue Marble Next Generation - A true color earth dataset including seasonal dynamics from MODIS. Published by the NASA Earth Observatory. Corresponding author: rstockli@climate.gsfc.nasa.gov
Title
- For the first year or so, the working title of the novel was “A Tale of Two Families”. The eventual title was chosen to highlight the two major components of any fictional narrative: text and subtext, or plot and theme – represented by the two nouns in the title – whereby, through the definite article, emphasis is placed on the symbolism or subtext of the narrative. While, throughout, the actual text firmly remains within the bounds of realism, the connection of the various stories-inside-the-story to the main narrative exists between the lines; and it is this mythological subtext that drives the overall story arch.
Part One
- Notwithstanding the omission of the famous first line of the Hamlet soliloquy, the question of identity is central to The Signs of a Mystery (TSOAM). As referenced in the prologue of Part Three, and again in Chapter Nine of that part, it is indeed the defining difference between the point-of-view character and her main opponents. Another central topic, mentioned in the dedication, is ideologies. At the centre of every ideology is the definition of an ideal, which promotes the creation of homogeneity within a group, and thereby of a group identity, but opposes diversity or individual identities. Aside from the literal significance, the phrase “a sea of troubles” also refers to the repetitive or cyclic nature of the threat facing not only the point-of-view character, but also previous generations.
Prologue
- Fareøya ("Danger Island") is fictitious. It would be situated within the gap between Moskenesøya and Værøya at the southern tip of the Lofoten archipelago.
- The Blitz from the People's War archive by the BBC provides many firsthand personal accounts of the Battle of Britain.
- The background details for the scene at Euston Station were taken from the radio programme London After Dark (audio), which was broadcast on 24 August 1940, jointly by CBS and BBC. The Euston Station segment begins at about 22 minutes into the broadcast.
Chapter One
- The first encounter with Siobhán, the point-of-view character, is when she has just woken up from an uneasy sleep, and tiredness stays with her until the very end, when she finally feels able to fall asleep again. This mirrored the persistent insomnia I experienced myself for years, as a result of the late night until early morning writing process, which I had to fit into my day in addition to working fulltime as a meteorologist.
- The British Institute for Polar Research (BIPOLR) is a fictitious version of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), which are both located in Cambridge. BAS is an institute of the Natural Environment Research Council, whereas SPRI is a department within the University of Cambridge. The real Halley IV research base on Brunt Ice Shelf became Aurora IV in the novel; while Rothera, the main Antarctic logistics hub of BAS, situated on Adelaide Island, became Halo.
- RRS Steadfast is a fictitious version of real-life (although now scrapped) icebreaker RRS Bransfield. Its current replacement is RRS Ernest Shackleton.
- Creek 9 is the fictitious name for a narrow bay at the leading edge of Brunt Ice Shelf, situated at about 75º14'S, 25º31'W, and referred to by BAS as N9. It is a natural ramp from the 20 – 30 metre-high ice shelf down to the Weddell Sea. Aurora base (75º16'45''S, 24º56'39''W) was moved about 60 kilometres northeastwards relative to the current position of Halley (75º35'0"S, 26º39'36"W), such that it is closer to Creek 9 and provides easier access to the water for diving. Regular biological research by BAS on Antarctica began with the opening of Bonner Laboratory at Rothera in 1996. Previously, in 1980, a diving facility had been established on Signy Island (part of the South Orkney Islands). To this day, no biological research is being conducted from Halley.
- "The One Who Wasn't Chosen": In reality, it was not until November 1995 that women were accepted as members of British wintering teams on Antarctica. Therefore, Siobhán's application, her act of defiance, is initially ignored.
- Participant's Handbook – A Guide to Going South (PDF) by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Much has changed since 1990 – 91, but many aspects of travelling to and working on Antarctica are still the same.
- Medical Aspects of Deployments to Polar Regions (PDF) by the BAS Medical Unit
- Life in the Polar Regions by BAS
- A year-by-year summary of events on Halley base, going back to the International Geophysical Year in 1956
- History of British Stations and Refuges (PDF) by BAS
- An environmental evaluation of Halley VI (PDF) by BAS, which also contains brief descriptions of the earlier constructions at that site
- A detailed description of the Georg von Neumayer Station (PDF) of the Alfred Wegener Institute, which was operational from 1981 to 1992 and was similar in its basic layout to Halley IV
- Floor plan of the fictitious Aurora IV research base (PDF), which was drawn up early on during the writing process
Chapter Two
- Siobhán deflects Alison's question about dangerous animals in the waters around Antarctica. While it is true that there are no sharks or polar bears, leopard seals are a serious threat and have caused one fatality near Rothera. Orcas are also a potential danger, as divers might be mistaken for seals.
- Diving Under Antarctic Ice: A History (PDF) by Peter Brueggeman of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- Bacteria in sea ice and underlying water of the eastern Weddell Sea in midwinter (PDF) by Elisabeth Helmke and Horst Weyland, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 117, 269-287, 1995
- Morphological adaptation of a planktonic diatom to growth in Antarctic sea ice by Ryszard Ligowski et al., Marine Biology, 159 (4), 817–827, 2012
- Some like it cold: understanding the survival strategies of psychrophiles (PDF) by Pieter De Maayer et al., EMBO reports, 2014
- Hitler’s Antarctic base: the myth and the reality by Colin Summerhayes and Peter Beeching, Polar Record, 43 (1), 1–21, 2007
- Siobhán mentions a field station at Tarbat Rocks. In reality, there is no such place, neither the field station, nor the village. However, Tarbat Ness peninsula does exist along the northwest coast of Moray Firth. At the northern tip of that headland stands Tarbat Ness Lighthouse. This is were the little fishing village of Tarbat Rocks would be situated. The fictitious field station there is based on the real Lighthouse Field Station in Cromarty, some 25 kilometres to the south, which was established by the University of Aberdeen in 1990, about two years too late for the timeline of the novel.
- Moray Firth (PDF) by the Scottish Natural Heritage
- Sub specie aeternitatis (Lat., Under the aspect of eternity): an expression introduced by Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 77) to refer to universal or objective truths that are independent of the progression of time.
Chapter Four
- The album Diesel and Dust was released in August 1987 by Midnight Oil. It contains the song "Beds Are Burning," the video of which features the band driving through the Australian Outback in a beat-up pickup truck, and was followed by the album Blue Sky Mining, released in February 1990.
Chapter Five
- Before being deployed in the Falklands War, the Second Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) was stationed in Northern Ireland, where they were caught in the PIRA Warrenpoint ambush on 27 August 1979, which killed 18 and wounded six.
- Different experiences of violent conflicts are being addressed in the narrative, distinguished by differing degrees of spatial and temporal separation: here and now (the Troubles); there and now (the Falklands and the First Gulf War); then and here (the Battle of Britain during the Second World War).
Chapter Six
- Fires on Antarctic bases are rare. However, due to the potentially disastrous consequences, they are still considered a major threat, especially in winter, when evacuation becomes more difficult or even impossible. British bases have only experienced a significant fire once in 2001, when Bonner Laboratory burned down due to an electrical fault, fortunately without any loss of life. For a list of fires on Antarctic bases, see Antarctica Fire History by Cool Antarctica.
- Siobhán's accommodation at the very end of the South Tube, above the storage room, and her being caught there in a fire, is a reference to the "mad woman in the attic" in the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
Chapter Seven
- The title is a quote from the song "Not Dark Yet" by Bob Dylan, which was released on the album Time Out of Mind in January 1997 ("Don’t even hear a murmur of a prayer. It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there").
- Siobhán's prayer is a reference to two verses in The Gospel of Matthew (26:39 and 26:42).
Chapter Eight
- Deutsches Institut für Polarforschung (German Institute for Polar Research) is a fictitious version of the Alfred Wegener Institute, with headquarters in Bremerhaven. The real Georg von Neumayer station on Ekström Ice Shelf became Helios in the novel.
- Translation of the German dialogue:
- Torsten: ‘Stefan, das sieht ziemlich schlimm aus da drüben – alles ausgebrannt und vereist. Die äussere Röhre ist fast komplett eingestürzt.’ ('Stefan, this looks pretty bad over there – everything burnt out and iced-up. The outer shell is almost completely collapsed.')
- Frank: ‘Was glaubt ihr wie gefährlich das hier ist?’ ('How dangerous do you thinks is this in here?')
- Stefan: ‘Keine Ahnung.’ ('No idea.')
- Torsten: ‘Wir sollten uns hier nur so lang wie absolut notwendig aufhalten.’ ('We should only stay here as long as absolutely necessary.')
- Stefan: ‘Wir fangen gleich an. Dazu müssen wir sie aber bewegen. Und wir brauchen die Ausrüstung.’ ('We'll begin in a moment. But for that, we'll have to move her. And we'll need the equipment.')
Chapter Nine
- FS Polaris is a fictitious version of the real-life German research icebreaker FS Polarstern ("Pole Star"), which is still in service after all these years.
- As mentioned above, women were still excluded from British wintering teams in 1990, when Siobhán would have been selected. At the same time, the first German female winterers were staying at the Georg von Neumayer station – a team that consisted exclusively of women. Had that aspect been included in the novel, Siobhán would have gone from an all-male to an all-female environment during her evacuation from Aurora to Helios. To many readers, this would undoubtedly have seemed to be a curious authorial choice, unnecessarily raising questions about the motivation behind it.
Part Two
- The working title of this part was “The Writing on the Wall”. The reference to a mirror in the eventual title acknowledges the importance of real and metaphorical reflections throughout the narrative, including genre inversions, as well as parallel and opposite plot lines.
Chapter Three
- The working title of this chapter was “Conversations by Claire”.
- "It's been seven hours and fifteen days" is a quote from the song "Nothing Compares 2 U" written by Prince and covered by Sinéad O'Connor for her album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, released on 8 January 1990.
- The Apostle newspaper of the University of St Andrews that Claire mentions has a real-life equivalent in The Saint.
- The bringer of light: the raven in Inuit tradition by Jarich Oosten and Frédéric Laugrand, Polar Record 42 (3), 187–204, 2006
Chapter Five
- As scenic as the Scottish Highlands are, it was impossible to find a setting for the manor house that was exactly what was needed for the story. The closest analog in reality is the mountain Quinag in western Sutherland, not far from the southern shore of Loch Cairnbawn (Gaelic, Loch a' Chàirn Bhàin, or "White Cairn Bay"). Sadly, however, Quinag does not have a lake in its central valley. Therefore, Loch Cuirinnein ("White Water Lily Lake") had to be added, at which point the mountain was renamed Ben Erne (Gaelic, Beinn na h-Iolaire-bhàin, or "Sea Eagle Mountain"), based on its wing-shaped crest. (Although becoming extinct in Scotland during the Nineteenth Century, sea eagles were successfully reintroduced in the Twentieth Century and are now beginning to recover.) Additionally, a little village was needed at the foot of Ben Erne and directly by the shore of Loch Cairnbawn. To reflect the important connection to the mountain, it was named Eyrie. The closest real-life model for the village is Kylesku. The two further fictitious additions were Innis Tannasg ("Isle of the Phantom") and Innis Siabhraich ("Isle of the Fae").
- The Legend of the Mermaid of Loch Assynt, which served as a model for the Legend of the Phantom and the Fae in the novel
- A famous virgin: Siobhán is the Gaelic version of Norman Jehanne, from which the modern French name Jeanne is derived, with diminutive forms Jeanette in French and Sinéad in Gaelic. Ultimately, these names can be traced back to the old Hebrew name Yohannan, meaning "God is gracious", from which originates the female name Johanna and the male name Johannes in the Germanic cultural sphere of influence.
- Fliederbeersuppe (Ger., black elder berry soup): a traditional cold-season desert from North Germany, including also apples, pears, and semolina dumplings, sprinkled with cinnamon powder.
- Plettenpudding: a desert introduced by Thomas Mann in his 1901 novel Buddenbrooks, and therefore connected to the North German city of Lübeck; a particular type of raspberry trifle, including also macaroons, ladyfinger biscuits, and custard (sherry is optional).
Chapter Six
- Floor plan of the fictitious manor house in the Scottish Highlands (PDF), which was drawn up early on during the writing process
- Arthur Rackham's illustrations for Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, on which the murals in the manor house are based. In order of appearance in the novel, they are taken from: i) Part Two ("The Valkyrie"), Act Three, Scene One; ii) Part Two, Act Two, Scene Five; iii) Part Four ("Twilight of the Gods"), Act One, Scene Three; iv) Part Four, Act Three, Scene Three (the final scene of the cycle); v) Part Two, Act Three, Scene Three.
- The stanza added to the fourth mural ("fire and water") is taken from an English translation of Twilight of the Gods by H. and F. Corder from 1882. A slightly older translation of the complete work from 1877 by Alfred Foreman can be found here.
Chapter Eight
- Introduction to the Clachtoll Broch by Discover Assynt
- Assynt Hidden Lives (PDF), description of an archaeological survey by the Assynt Hidden Lives Project
- The only surviving account of the Roman conquest of Britain that was written within living memory of the events is found in The Annals by Tacitus, specifically Book XIV, where the author describes the campaign of Legio XIV Gemina Martia under Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman Governor of Britain, to Mona (Anglesey) in 60 or 61 AD. He specifically mentions the druids, who – together with a group of women with matted hair and carrying firebrands – hurled powerful curses against the landing Roman army and literally petrified them. What really happened during that raid will never be known. However, Tacitus' narrative gives an insight into how seriously the Romans took the potential threat from the Welsh tribes under the leadership of the druids. In addition to eliminating that danger, it is entirely possible that the Romans intended to find out about the source of the druid's power, to be able to use it for themselves. Many of the legionnaires deployed in Britain would have had grandfathers in Legio XIV. In 14 – 16 AD, these ancestors would have fought in Germania, to avenge Varus' catastrophic defeat there, and to recover the lost eagles. At a time when the world was still perceived to be full of supernatural forces, it is easy to imagine that the survivors of the early Germanic wars would have told their sons and grandsons fanciful stories about their heroic adventures in a magical forest in the distant North that had previously swallowed up three entire legions. Two generations later, it were their descendants themselves who battled their way over the Welsh mountains and across Menai Strait, to – in their minds – fight a supernatural army of wizards and furies. Notwithstanding the trepidation they must have felt, in the end, it was a successful campaign for them, even though they were suddenly pulled out of Wales to confront and defeat Boudica's army after the destruction of Camulodunum and Londinium, which earned them their second honorary title, Victrix.
- Discarded idea: At an early stage of the basic plot development, an important clue was going to be hidden in a fictitious ruined castle between the Stoer and Clachtoll communities, in the northwestern Scottish parish of Assynt. "Stoer Castle" would then have been an anagram for "A Lost Secret", which is still of central significance in the story. However, the anagram clue never came to anything. Instead, a fictitious little chapel on a headland south of Clachtoll Bay was used to transmit another secret message.
Chapter Nine
- "The one person in the crowd capable of pulling the sword out of the stone": In Siobhán's mind, this expression is a reference to Arthurian legends, that would have been familiar to her, where the "drawing a sword from a stone" motive to establish yourself as a worthy leader was first introduced by Robert de Boron in his epic poem Merlin, around the turn of the 13th Century, and later publicised in Le Morte d'Arthur (1485) by Sir Thomas Malory. However, the people who left the secret message in the little chapel in Clachtoll Bay would rather have thought of the scene in Act One of Part Two ("The Valkyrie") of Wagner's Ring Cycle, where the hero draws a sword from an ash tree, a particularly powerful sword that no one else had been able to dislodge, thereby establishing himself as the son of chief god Odin.
Part Three
Prologue
- Alison's final words to the Phantoms, who are about to kill her, are based on two real quotes: i) Sophie Scholl to cell mate Else Gebel, after receiving her indictment and death sentence, "Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go." ii) Pastor Karl Alt, seeing the sun go down during Sophie and Hans Scholl's funeral service, two days after their execution, as reported by their sister Inge Scholl, "It will rise again."
Chapter One
- The fictitious U-Boot Archiv in Laboe has a real-life equivalent in the German U-Boat Museum in Cuxhaven-Altenbruch. It contains the war diary of U-47, which would have been a sister boat of U-112 in the 7th Submarine Flotilla stationed in Kiel.
- Detailed information about German submarines during the First and Second World Wars can be found here.
- Daily accounts of German and Allied ship movements and engagements during the Second World War can be found here.
Chapter Two
- The military radio station in the abandoned nuclear bunker near the fictitious village of Lindenthal is based on Troposphären-Funkstation 302 in Lindholz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is open to visitors. The real bunker was also broken into, had its electronic equipment dismantled and stolen, and was then flooded, in the manner described in the novel – although purely in an act of vandalism. The water was pumped out, but the radio station has not been fully restored. However, TF 301 in Bad Freienwalde, Brandenburg (about 60 km northeast of Berlin city centre) is virtually identical and has been restored to its original conditions, after it too had been vandalised after its closure. It has been scheduled as a historic monument and is open to visitors.
Chapter Six
- Moskenesvær ("sea spray headland fishing village") is fictitious, as is Fareøya. Caves, similar to the one mentioned in the novel, with “matchstick men” paintings, can be found in Kollhellaren (or Refsvikhula) cave on Moskenesøya (to the northeast of Fareøya), Sanden cave on Værøy (to the southeast), and Helvete cave on Røst (to the southwest), all islands being part of the Lofoten archipelago. The cave paintings were made using red iron oxide powder, are between 30 – 40 cm tall, and date from about 1000 BC. As described here, in Kollhellaren, they were painted in a part of the cave where it branches off in three directions. It is believed that that location had a spiritual significance to the Stone Age people who lived there, possibly being associated with the transition between life and death. Kollhellaren is oriented such that, in mid-summer, the midnight sun shines straight into the cave. It is unknown whether this had any spiritual significance.
Chapter Seven
- Si vis pacem, para bellum (Lat, If you want peace, prepare for war; from Book III of De Re Militari by Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus). It was the motto of Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, which manufactured the P.08 pistol that Peter offers to give to Siobhán. Due to that motto, the weapon became known as Parabellum among German Army personnel.
- Civilian Internment from the People's War archive by the BBC provides many firsthand personal accounts of internment on the Isle of Man.
- The Order of the New Atlanteans is fictitious. The name is a reference to The Order of the New Templars (Ordo Novi Templi), which was founded by Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels in 1907, on the basis of an ideology of Ario-Christianity.
Chapter Eight
- While Siobhán is still alone in the cave, she wonders whether her grandfather would have made the same decision he made fifty years ago had he known what the consequences would be. This is a reference to the central conflict in Wagner's Ring Cycle, where two opposite moral choices are being made by two different characters. Odin, chief god and able to predict the future, decides that the murder of an innocent is justified "for the greater good," i.e., the survival of the gods. Meanwhile, Brynhildr, one of Odin's valkyrie daughters and not endowed with his power of omniscience, judges the situation purely in the moment and decides to protect her mortal half-brother. Likewise, in TSOAM, the inciting event is determined by a moral choice. However, in TSOAM, none of the characters have the ability to foresee the consequences of their actions. Therefore, their decisions are being made without any future context, and without the responsibility that would come with omniscience. Foresight at the time is simulated by Siobhán's hindsight, when she returns to the fateful place fifty years later. A further similarity is that, in both stories, the ultimate evil is impersonal: a cursed ring of power in the Ring Cycle, and the anonymous, faceless "phantoms" in TSOAM.
- Translation of the German dialogue:
- Ralf: ‘Du bist von der Stasi, nicht wahr, oder wie auch immer ihr euch jetzt nennt.’ ('You are from the Stasi, right, or however you call yourself nowadays.')
- Ralf: ‘Tu’ nicht so, ich weiß doch genau …’ ('Don't put on a show, I know exactly …')
- Peter: ‘Ralf, du Hund! Lass’ sie gehen!’ ('Ralf, you dog! Let her go!')
- Peter: ‘Du wirst dem Mädchen nichts antun so lange ich am Leben bin!’ ('You will not harm the girl while I'm alive!')
Chapter Ten
- Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (15:26)
- Moving on: The final sentence of the novel is the oldest surviving sentence in the final edit, although it was never intended to be part of the narrative. As the story outline grew in length and complexity, it became increasingly clear how much time would be required to write it all down in an actual readable narrative. Therefore, in a moment of panic, I wrote the sentence at the very bottom of the working document, as a reminder that – should I ever get there – it would then be time to let go of the story and to focus all my attention on real life again.
- Alternative ending: According to the earliest outline for the novel, the goal had been to write a perfect "ring cycle", whereby Siobhán, at the end of the story, closes the loop begun in Chapter Seven of Part One, when her second chance, given on borrowed time, has been used up, and the goal of eliminating her enemies has been achieved. Without the introduction of any explicitly supernatural elements, the characterisation of Siobhán as a vengeful ghost after her return from Antarctica would have been enhanced compared with the final version. In terms of the major plot points, the story would have played out identically – however, without anything related to Claire. Instead, from a short phone conversation with her former flatmate, intended to get Siobhán to the meeting with Professor Harris, the character of Claire, over a period of months, steadily grew in significance, until it rewrote the ultimate fate of the point-of-view character. Even so, she only introduces a small perturbation along the circular storyline, preventing the two ends from meeting exactly, and presenting Siobhán with a choice of taking the way back.