Frostquake: How the frozen winter of 1962 changed Britain forever

Description

Exhilarating and rich narrative non-fiction that brings to light a dramatic and pivotal moment in our social, political and cultural history for the first time ** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ** 'This book is a must' Peter Hennessy On Boxing Day 1962, when Juliet Nicolson was eight years old, the snow began to fall. It did not stop for ten weeks. The threat of nuclear war had reached its terrifying height with the recent Cuban Missile Crisis, unemployment was on the rise, and yet, underneath the frozen surface, new life was beginning to stir. From poets to pop stars, shopkeepers to schoolchildren, and her own family's experiences, Juliet Nicolson traces the hardship of that frozen winter and the emancipation that followed. That spring, new life was unleashed, along with freedoms we take for granted today. 'An absolutely mesmerising book' Antonia Fraser

Juliet Nicolson is the author of two works of history, The Great Silence- 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War and The Perfect Summer- Dancing into Shadow in 1911; and a family memoir, A House Full of Daughters. She lives with her husband in East Sussex, not far from Sissinghurst, where she spent her childhood.

Nicolson makes social history feel like reading the best and most gripping novel. A beautiful, wholly original book -- India Knight A brilliant concept transformed into a brilliant and revelatory book. Completely fascinating and engrossing -- William Boyd As gripping as any thriller, Frostquake is the story of a national trauma that came out of nowhere and changed us forever. Brilliantly written and almost eerily relevant to our current troubles -- Tony Parsons An engagingly written mixture of social history and memoir -- Trevor Phillips * Sunday Times * Fascinating, quirky and evocative . . . Nicolson takes us right back to that muffled, snowbound world -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail *