February 2026 - A Woman in the Polar Night - Christiane Ritter

For our second book of 2026, we have a memoir of life on a remote Arctic island.

'In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable life in Austria and travels to the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen, to spend a year there with her husband. She thinks it will be a relaxing trip, a chance to 'read thick books in the remote quiet and, not least, sleep to my heart's content', but when Christiane arrives she is shocked to realize that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, battling the elements every day, just to survive. At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape the lack of equipment and supplies... But as time passes, after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months on end of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty, gaining a great sense of inner peace and a new appreciation for the sanctity of life.'

This book is available on Kindle. For international delivery you can find it from Blackwells and it may also be available at the library or an English language book store.

We are a "real" book club, which means we do read the book before the meet-up and discuss it. New members are always welcome.

We need to notify the venue about how many will attend, so please make sure your RSVP status is accurate.

Hope to see you there!