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A Woman in the Polar Night

ebook
“An epic story, elegantly told and full of mystery.” — Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle
A rediscovered classic memoirthe mesmerizingly beautiful account of one woman's year spent living in a remote hut in the Arctic
“A refreshing voice in the canon of Arctic literature. . . charms its reader with its simple candor. Readers will delight in Ritter’s frank impressions and candid remarks.  – The Wall Street Journal

This rediscovered classic memoir tells the incredible tale of a woman defying society's expectations to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime.
In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable life in Austria and travels to the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen, to spend a year there with her husband. She thinks it will be a relaxing trip, a chance to 'read thick books in the remote quiet and, not least, sleep to my heart's content', but when Christiane arrives she is shocked to realize that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, battling the elements every day, just to survive.
At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape the lack of equipment and supplies... But as time passes, after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months on end of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty, gaining a great sense of inner peace and a new appreciation for the sanctity of life.

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Series: Pushkin Press Classics Publisher: Steerforth Press Edition: Deluxe Edition

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9781782275657
  • Release date: February 6, 2024

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9781782275657
  • File size: 2247 KB
  • Release date: February 6, 2024

Formats

OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

Languages

English

“An epic story, elegantly told and full of mystery.” — Maggie Shipstead, author of Great Circle
A rediscovered classic memoirthe mesmerizingly beautiful account of one woman's year spent living in a remote hut in the Arctic
“A refreshing voice in the canon of Arctic literature. . . charms its reader with its simple candor. Readers will delight in Ritter’s frank impressions and candid remarks.  – The Wall Street Journal

This rediscovered classic memoir tells the incredible tale of a woman defying society's expectations to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime.
In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable life in Austria and travels to the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen, to spend a year there with her husband. She thinks it will be a relaxing trip, a chance to 'read thick books in the remote quiet and, not least, sleep to my heart's content', but when Christiane arrives she is shocked to realize that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, battling the elements every day, just to survive.
At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape the lack of equipment and supplies... But as time passes, after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months on end of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty, gaining a great sense of inner peace and a new appreciation for the sanctity of life.

Expand title description text
Check out what's being checked out right now Content of this digital collection is funded by your local Minuteman library, supplemented by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.