This is an engrossing read. The author has written several dozen little sketches, each about one of the many times the river Thames froze during a stretch of brutally cold weather. It was the perfect book to keep me company during the polar vortex that has invaded New York, bringing us temperatures below zero.

Each of the little vignettes is only a few pages long, but so beautifully done! There are sad stories, foolish stories, humorous stories… all with a keen sense of how humanity thrives or dies because of changes in the natural world.