Cold Coast

Book excerpt: Winner Tasmanian Literary Awards –​ People's Choice Shortlisted for the Tasmanian Literary Awards –​ Premier's Prize for Fiction Shortlisted for the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize Inspired by the story of Svalbard’s first female trapper, Cold Coast is a gripping portrayal of survival within the stark beauty and perilous wilderness of the high Arctic 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. PRAISE FOR COLD COAST ‘[Mundy] translates the stark beauty and acerbity of the Arctic with masterly wit and fervour. This is the best kind of novel – one that takes you away from the mundanity of your plastic chair and four concrete walls.’ – Sydney Morning Herald ​‘Cold Coast is a stunning novel, rich in metaphor and symbolism...Mundy's writing is poetic and lyrical. It transports the reader to a perilous but unexpectedly luminous part of the world that most people will never visit.’ –​ The Canberra Times ​‘A brilliant feminist biographical natural history novel.’ –​ Australian Women's Weekly ‘Robyn Mundy’s Cold Coast is a remarkable achievement. It tells Woldstad’s story in gorgeously intimate prose, with page after page of stunning nature writing.’ – Books+Publishing ‘Cold Coast summons the raw beauty of Svalbard with achingly evocative prose. At once visceral and lyrical, I was totally absorbed in the story of Wanny Woldstad and her yearning for wilder freedoms.’ – Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites ‘An exquisitely written, immersive novel about wildness, survival and the incomparable exhilaration of choosing a bigger life. I was captivated from start to finish.’ – Emily Maguire, author of An Isolated Incident and Love Objects 'Rarely has a book been so evocative of time and place. At once transporting and unsentimental, Cold Coast is as bracing as the arctic winds that sweep through its world. Its truths about love, endurance and courage are visceral and above all exhilarating, even as death hovers unsettlingly near.’ – Lucy Treloar, author of Salt Creek and Wolfe Island '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, Readings Monthly