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Title details for The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys - Available

The Frozen Thames

by Helen Humphreys
ebook
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1 of 1 copy available
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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 31, 2012

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781551994819

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781551994819
      • File size: 8996 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 26, 2009
      Between 1142 and 1895, the Thames froze solid 40 times, and Humphreys (Wild Dogs
      ) captures the magic and hardship created by these deep freezes in a series of elegant vignettes. The book opens with Queen Matilda’s snow-cloaked escape across the frozen Thames from Oxford Castle, and subsequent snapshots capture everything from fox hunts to the merry Frost Fairs that set up on the solid river. The river is also witness to the Black Death, a window tax and a hearth tax, a crumbling London Bridge and the Luddite uprising. The elements are wonderfully evoked, with coldness so intense that birds fall frozen from the sky, ale freezes solid in its jugs, and trees split apart “as though struck by lightning.” In a style meditative and poetic, Humphreys crafts a compelling portrait of the role something as seemingly simple as ice has in people’s lives and imaginations.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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