Helpful Score: 1
The river Thames, has, in its long life, frozen 40 times. Helen Humphreys (The Lost Garden; Coventry) commemorates these singular events by devoting one brief chapter to each instance in which the river freezes, beginning in 1142, when a frozen Thames helped Matilda flee from her cousin and enemy Stephen, a rival for Englands throne. Humphreys chronicle of the frozen Thames is a memoir of the river at its least river-like state. This is an odd and oddly attractive piece of writing. The only work I can compare it to is Ivo Andrićs unforgettable Bridge on the Drina. A frozen Thames is just on the boundaries of what is normal in climatic variations. Its just strange enough to create diversions to those wealthy enough to survive in very cold winters, and to be disastrous for those whose livelihoods depend on a wet, unfrozen river (bargemen, ferrymen, fishermen, gardeners). 4 stars
