"Conjures the rasp of the skin runner, the scent of burning blubber and the rippling iridescence of the Northern Lights..." Sara Wheeler, author of Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica "Ritter manages to articulate all the terrible beauty and elemental power of a polar winter" Gavin Francis, author of Empire Antarctica 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. 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.

"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

"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'

"Christine Ritter's astonishing, haunting memoir of a year in the Arctic in the 1930s is 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

"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

"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

"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

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

"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

"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