A beautiful, small book about the times (at least recorded times) that The River Thames froze over. Dates: 1142, 1205, 1269, 1282, 1309, 1363, 1408, 1434, 1506, 1515, 1536, 1565, 1608, 1621, 1635, 1649, 1655, 1662, 1666, 1677, 1684, 1689, 1691, 1695, 1709, 1716, 1740, 1762, 1768, 1776, 1784, 1789, 1795, 1796, 1809, 1811, 1814, 1820, 1880, 1895. According to the author, the Thames will never freeze over again. (?) "Spare but satisfying. Each of its episodes has within it the capacity to do what Humphreys did with the entirety of 'The Lost Garden': to speak of loss lightly but profoundly." - Quill & Quire

Here is a blurb from a blog I found. The author's name appears too be M@: "...Each vignette is fictional, but many include real events and people. We dip into the frost fairs of the 18th Century, join Tudors hunting hares on the solidified Thames, and tread with fear in the footsteps of someone caught on the melting ice. The book is, by turn, sportive, poignant and historically insightful. But the joy is in the details: the absence of songbirds during crueler winters than we know today; the travails of the innkeeper, thwarted by frozen ale; the miracle of fresh fruit in midwinter.
With the demolition of Old London Bridge in 1832, a great barrier to the flow of the river was removed. The later embanking of the Thames narrowed, deepened and hastened the flow. It is unlikely to freeze again while humans still control the city. This book allows us to share in a winter spectacle known to almost every Londoner for 700 years, but which no Londoner will ever experience again. Beautiful stuff. "