'Conjures the rasp of the ski runner, the scent of burning blubber and the rippling iridescence of the Northern Lights' Sara Wheeler '[An] astonishing, haunting memoir' Isabella Tree The rediscovered classic memoir - the mesmerizingly beautiful account of one woman's year spent living in a remote hut in the Arctic In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable home for a year with her husband on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. On arrival she is shocked to realise that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement. At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape and the lack of supplies... But after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty. This luminous classic memoir tells of her inspiring journey to freedom and fulfilment in the adventure of a lifetime. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe Translated by Jane Degras With a foreword by Sara Wheeler Born in 1897, CHRISTIANE RITTER was an Austrian artist and author. She wrote A Woman in the Polar Night on her return to Austria from Spitsbergen in 1934. It has since become a classic of travel writing, never going out of print in German and being translated into seven other languages. 'A year in the Arctic should be compulsory to everyone,' she would say in her later years. 'Then you will come to realise what's important in life and what isn't.' Ritter died in Vienna in 2000 at the age of 103.

"Conjures the rasp of the ski runner, the scent of burning blubber and the rippling iridescence of the Northern Lights" - Sara Wheeler, author of 'Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica'

"Astonishing, haunting... as much an exploration of the human psyche as it is a journey into one of the bleakest, most challenging and magical environments on earth" - Isabella Tree, author of Wilding: The Return to Nature of a British Farm

"Extraordinary... It's a radical, feminist text that speaks to the disconnection from the rest of nature we are experiencing at unprecedented levels today. It's hard to believe it was written over 80 years ago" - Independent

"Unusual, thoughtful, this has beauty in the simple expression of immense interior experience" - Kirkus Reviews

"Spectacular... Extraordinary... A deeply affecting book, a memoir so erudite and so wise it's a mystery why it's been out of print in English for half a century" - New European Review

"An evocative account of a year spent in a tiny hut, eating frozen seal meat, facing blizzards and celebrating New Year's Eve with raspberry juice and surgical spirit. Above all, it chronicles Christiane's growing love for the austere beauty of her surroundings" - Daily Mail

"Should you be the sort of person who likes to match their reading to the weather, or current Sunday night telly, you couldn't do better than this... The details of life there, then are fascinating and she's a wonderful nature writer too. It's deeply cosy all round" - Alexandra Heminsley, author of Running Like a Girl

"A book for anyone who loves sublime landscapes and prose... Ritter manages to articulate all the terrible beauty and elemental power of a polar winter" - Gavin Francis, author of 'Empire Antarctica'

"If I only read one book each winter it would be this small slim volume. It's an extraordinary true fable that sings the songs of the old Arctic and leaves your heart ringing with cold, wild delight" - Geographical

"A beautiful account of one woman's decision to spend a year living in the Arctic wilderness" - Woman and Home

"[Christiane Ritter] walked right up to and past her own physical, psychological and emotional edges, and recounted it all in absolutely gorgeous and meditative prose. I can reread each sentence a dozen times" - All the Feminist Books

"Beautiful... a fresh and joyous account of a woman wintering over in the Arctic" - The Riverside Bookshop (blog)

"I know a lot of people who'd pack their bags to live in the Arctic after reading this. It is that powerful. This classic travel memoir is still so much alive and connects with readers like no other. A must-read!" - Elif the Reader