A groundbreaking, genre-bending new work from one of Canada’s most respected writers.
In its long history, the River Thames has frozen solid forty times. These are the stories of that frozen river.
And so opens one of the most breathtaking and original works being published this season. The Frozen Thames contains forty vignettes based on events that actually took place each time the river froze between 1142 and 1895. Like a photograph captures a moment, etching it forever on the consciousness, so does Humphreys’ achingly beautiful prose. She deftly draws us into these intimate moments, transporting us through time so that we believe ourselves observers of the events portrayed. Whether it’s Queen Matilda trying to escape her besieged castle in a snowstorm, or lovers meeting on the frozen river in the plague years; whether it’s a simple farmer persuading his oxen the ice is safe, or Queen Bess discovering the rare privacy afforded by the ice-covered Thames, the moments are fleeting and transformative for the characters — and for us, too.
Stunningly designed and illustrated throughout with full-colour period art, The Frozen Thames is a triumph.
- ISBN10 0385342810
- ISBN13 9780385342810
- Publish Date 24 March 2009 (first published 7 October 2008)
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 25 August 2014
- Publish Country IN
- Imprint Random House USA Inc
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 192
- Language English