Next month’s book club pick: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer • Upgrade to or renew an annual subscription to win my gorgeous desk essentials box • Talking about Wintering on Pulling the Thread • Discussing winter creativity with Anna Brones

Hello, dear Book Clubbers! How is your reading proceeding?

This week, I got together with Rebecca Armstrong for a midpoint discussion of A Woman In the Polar Night. Christiane is now deep into the business of survival, learning to love the landscape and its constraints, battling snowstorms and being plunged into solitude as Hermann and Karl go on an expedition. There is also a happy end to the story of Mikkl, thank goodness.

The Ritters stepping out

In this recording, Rebecca and I talk about:

  • The way men treat Christiane - and the way she deals with them

  • The mysterious Hermann

  • The even more mysterious daughter

  • The Arctic landscape as a spiritual force

  • Unavoidably, seal meat.

Here’s a clip from our conversation, plus the transcript. Paid Subscribers can find the full recording further down.

A Woman in the Polar Night clip

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Transcript A Woman In The Polar Night Readalong

Hermann and Christiane outside their hut

If you’d like to take a look inside the Ritter hut, as it is now known, there’s a virtual tour here.

I mentioned an interesting academic book called The Spectral Arctic by Shane Mccorristine, which discusses the ways in which the Arctic has haunted our psyche.

This article is great for drawing out the soundscape of the book: Music in the Dark: Soundscapes in Christiane Ritter’s A Woman in the Polar Night.

So tell me: how are you feeling about the book? Do you long for the life of a polar explorer? Do we have any right to worry about the Ritters’ relationship with their daughter? And could you tunnel your way out of a snow drift? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

Christiane later in life, when she would tell people that everyone should spend a year in the Arctic to get their priorities right

Coming up next:

January 20th - 26th: Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13

January 27th - 31st: Chapters 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18

Tuesday January 28th, 6pm UK time: Live final discussion with Anna Brones. Joining details are beyond the paywall.

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