Cold Coast
Robyn Mundy
Cold Coast
Robyn Mundy
In 1932, Wanny Woldstad, a young widow, travels to Svalbard, daring to enter the Norwegian trappers’ fiercely guarded male domain. She must prove to Anders Sæterdal, her trapping partner who makes no secret of his disdain, that a woman is fit for the task.
Over the course of a Svalbard winter, Wanny and Sæterdal will confront polar bears, traverse glaciers, withstand blizzards and the dangers of sea ice, and hike miles to trap Arctic fox, all in the frigid darkness of the four-month polar night. For Wanny, the darkness hides her own deceptions that, if exposed, speak to the untenable sacrifice of a 1930s woman longing to fulfil a dream.
Alongside the raw, confronting nature of the trappers’ work, is the story of a young blue Arctic fox, itself a hunter, who must eke out a living and navigate the trappers’ world if it is to survive its first Arctic winter.
Review
Jackie Tang
July, 1932: It is high summer up in the Arctic Circle and the widow Ivanna ‘Wanny’ Woldstad is the only female taxi driver in the Norwegian town of Tromsø. When she picksup seasoned trapper Anders Sæterdal from a bar, she has a proposition for him: he needs a partner for the winter season up north, and she’s an exceptionally good shot. Initially resistant, Anders agrees, and the pair make their way up to the fierce, stark splendour of Svalbard. The two fall into a daily rhythm, preparing for the long night of winter, when the trapping of polar foxes and bears truly begins. They train their dogs, hunt seals and ptarmigans for food, even make their own sourdough starter. Slowly, a mutual respect develops, but Wanny is a woman of many secrets, and this winter will be harsher than any she has known. Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, a little arctic fox kit – the runt of her litter with a rare coat of blue fur – learns to make her way in the treacherous yet beautiful mountains of Svalbard.
Cold Coast is a gripping fictionalised account of the real Wanny Woldstad’s first journey to Svalbard in 1932–33. Woldstad was the first female trapper and hunter – fangskvinne – and her determination and grit are brought to life with eagle-eyed detail here by Robyn Mundy, who has spent years working as a seasonal tour guide in Svalbard and north-east Greenland. Mundy’s experience is evident on every page of this book. Her evocations of this awe-inspiring landscape and its harsh conditions are so real, you truly feel like you’ve stepped through a wardrobe into a world turned blue by the polar winter. The brutality of trapping is handled honestly (there is a lot of blood in this novel) and Wanny’s issues as the first woman to navigate this hermetically sealed world of men are sensitively explored.
‘Why Svalbard?’ Wanny is asked early in the novel. ‘Because it is a place of stories … of snowstorms, of dangers and battles … It leaves me with a longing.’ Well, this novel has all of that, and it will leave you with that very same yearning to visit these far-flung places. There is a magic and mystery to the isolated reaches of our world, and Mundy has bottled up its icy wonder for us to savour this summer.
Jackie Tang is the editor of Readings Monthly.
This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in approx 2 weeks
Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.
Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.