LITERATURE
Cold AS BYATT
First published as part of AS Byatt’s 1998 collection of short stories, Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice , Cold is getting a deserved solo turn in the spotlight in this new, beautiful, standalone edition with a guest afterword by the brilliant RF Kuang. Cold tells the story of delicate Princess Fiammarosa, who leads a safe and protected life in her family’s castle, until the winter when she comes of age and discovers that the long-feared ice and snow actually sustains and breathes new life into her. The prospect of marriage is raised: her family hopes she will marry into the frozen North, but her head is turned by gifts from a prince of the warm Southern regions, where the ice woman will struggle to survive. How can the two be together – and at what cost to Fiammarosa? An exquisite jewel of a fairy story that shouldn’t be dismissed as for children: to paraphrase Katherine Rundell, it should be read by all, even those who are ‘so old and wise’. Though the themes are as old as they come, as Kuang observes in the afterword, reading it may reveal something new if it’s at the right point in your life. To quote AS Byatt herself: “You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world to yourself in.” This edition would make a meaningful gift for younger women, or those trying to rediscover themselves in the new year.
FROZEN FANCIES Byatt’s short story is a fairytale, originally published in 1998, that follows a princess who falls for a seemingly unsuitable prince
Not-so-new novels and memoirs that tell timeless tales CLASSIC WINTER READS
The Woods in Winter STELLA GIBBONS
A Woman in the Polar Night
Snow Country YASUNARI KAWABATA
CHRISTIANE RITTER
A tale of beauty and hopeless love, delicately and sparsely translated from the original Japanese. Shimamura leaves the city to visit Komako, the geisha he loves, who is trapped by expectation. Can the two ever truly be together? Dream-like fiction to float away into: perfect for an icy winter’s day.
Unforgettable, chilly, classic non-fiction about Christiane’s 1933 winter in Svalbard with her fur-trapper husband. Stunning nature writing with sound advice for surviving a harsh winter, including the maxim of always taking a daily walk, even if just around the floor of one’s snow-bound cabin…
A pointer not just to this title, where the brilliantly solitary Ivy Glover knows what she wants and goes out to get it, but to Dean Street Press’ entire Furrowed Middlebrow imprint, sharing the best women’s fiction from the 20th century. Look out for #DeanStreetDecember26!
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2026 27
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