A Woman in the Polar Night

A Woman in the Polar Night is a memoir by Austrian artist and author Christiane Ritter, who spent a year living in a remote hut in the Arctic in 1934. The book is a classic of travel writing, describing Ritter's journey to freedom and fulfillment in the adventure of a lifetime.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 09 January 2024
Publisher: Pushkin Press

Conjures the Rasp of the Ski Runner, the Scent of Burning Blubber, and the Rippling Iridescence of the Northern Lights

Sara Wheeler's Astonishing, Haunting Memoir

Isabella Tree's Rediscovered Classic Memoir

In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter embarks on an extraordinary journey, leaving her comfortable home for a year with her husband on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. Upon arrival, she is taken aback to discover that they will be residing in a tiny, ramshackle hut on the shores of a desolate fjord, hundreds of miles away from the nearest settlement.

At first, Christiane is overwhelmed by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape, and the limited supplies. However, as she encounters bears and seals, embarks on long treks across the ice, and experiences months of perpetual night, she gradually falls in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty.

This luminous classic memoir chronicles her inspiring journey to freedom and fulfillment in the adventure of a lifetime. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series, it features timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from across the globe. Translated by Jane Degras, it also includes a foreword by Sara Wheeler.

Born in 1897, Christiane Ritter was an Austrian artist and author. Her memoir, "A Woman in the Polar Night," was written upon her return to Austria from Spitsbergen in 1934. Since then, it has become a classic of travel writing, never going out of print in German and being translated into seven other languages.

Ritter believed that a year in the Arctic should be compulsory for everyone, as it would help them realize what truly matters in life and what is insignificant. She passed away in Vienna in 2000 at the age of 103.

Dimension: 198 x 129 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781805330899