The Frozen Thames (urspr publ 2007; utgåvan 2007)

Helen Humphreys book The frozen Thames, particularly the Delacorte edition, has all the qualities of a coffee table book, its shape being square, high-quality glossy paper, and multiple full-color plates, except that it is a very small book. The perfect Christmas present, perhaps.

Between the year 1142 and 1895, the river Thames froze over forty times. For each year, the book includes a short piece of writing, a vignette, to describe each occassion. No instance of winters so cold that the Thames would freeze are recorded for the Twentieth and Twenty-First Century. Only once during the Twelfth Century, and three times during the Thirteenth Century, twice during both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Century. After that it picks up, and it seems the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries were the coldest, with the river freezing over several times in these two centuries.

The narrative elements of each vignette are very similar: ice, skates, the various bridges over the Thames, among which the London Bridge and the recurring event of the Frost Fair, last held during the winter of 1814. In most vignettes, a short event involving commoners is mentioned, one can hardly say they tell a story, as most vignettes are only three pages long, and very small pages at that. As a result, each successive prose fragment is very similar, almost repetitive, while not very remarkable, and nothing leaves a profound impression. ( )

Almost an indulgence, a bit repetitive,but as appropriate a tribute to the intermittent cycle of freeze and thaw and our ability to witness it as individuals as ever have here could be. In each generation’s observation of a fallen sparrow, of the way the freeze creates an alternative path, public space, economy we are forced to acknowledge the limits of our own temporal experience of the world and its rhythms . ( )

40 short vignettes, many 3 pages long of the Thames River's freezing over and the people it affected: from the 12th to the 19th centuries. We see several historical names, for instance Matilda fleeing from her cousin, Stephen, and someone watching Henry VIII in his coach on the ice. There are several Frost Fairs, where a whole fair is held on the ice. Most of the stories concern the common people. A family rescues freezing birds. A man tries to get his oxen across the ice. In the last story a new bridge is built and unlike the old one, permits the water to flow faster and doesn't dam it up like the original bridge, so the river hasn't frozen in over 100 years. A sweet little book with many color illustrations. ( )

This collection of short vignettes is centered on the setting of the river Thames in the several times it froze solid in the heart of London with the old London bridge as a dam. There is rich history surrounding the subject, but Humphreys' stories go beyond the context with beautiful miniatures that ruminate on humanity and ice. There is no genre that could define this little book, but it is so easily readable and universally relatable that I don't think it needs one. I enjoyed every single one of these brief historical meditation stories for its own sake, but even more, I loved this collection as a whole. It is a wonderfully unique book that could as readily be enjoyed in one sitting as it could spread out over months or years. ( )

My blog post about this book is at this link. ( )