This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland

This Cold Heaven recounts author Gretel Ehrlich's seven extended stays in Greenland during the 1990s. She documents her travels with Inuit hunters and communities across the remote Arctic landscape during different seasons. The narrative intertwines Ehrlich's experiences with historical accounts of past Arctic explorers, particularly Danish-Greenlandic explorer Knud Rasmussen. Ehrlich follows some of Rasmussen's original routes and incorporates excerpts from his journals alongside her observations of how Greenland's people and environment have evolved. The book details traditional hunting practices, dog sledding methods, and the daily rhythms of life in modern Greenland's settlements. Through interviews and shared experiences with local residents, Ehrlich records how climate change and modernization affect centuries-old ways of life. At its core, This Cold Heaven examines humanity's relationship with extreme environments and the tension between tradition and change in one of Earth's most remote regions. The work raises questions about survival, adaptation, and the preservation of cultural knowledge in a rapidly transforming world.

Readers appreciate Ehrlich's detailed observations of Greenland's landscapes, culture, and people. Many reviewers highlight her poetic writing style and ability to capture both the beauty and harshness of Arctic life. The book receives praise for weaving together historical accounts, personal experiences, and Inuit perspectives. Common criticisms focus on the book's non-linear structure and frequent timeline shifts, which some readers find disorienting. Several note that the dense, descriptive passages can become repetitive. One reader on Goodreads wrote: "The writing is beautiful but the narrative meanders too much." Another mentioned: "Her details about hunting and survival methods are fascinating, but the constant jumping between past explorers and present day is confusing." Ratings across platforms: Goodreads: 4.0/5 (500+ ratings) Amazon: 4.3/5 (50+ reviews) LibraryThing: 4.1/5 (30+ ratings) The book maintains steady sales and continues to be referenced in Arctic travel literature discussions.

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The Long Exile by Melanie McGrath The account of three Inuit families forcibly relocated to the Canadian High Arctic by their government in 1953.

The Last Kings of Thule by Jean Malaurie A French anthropologist's documentation of life among Greenland's Polar Inuit during the transformation of their culture in the 1950s.

In the Land of White Death by Valerian Albanov The first-person narrative of a Russian navigator's 235-mile journey across Arctic ice after his ship became trapped in 1912.

The Future of Ice by Gretel Ehrlich A meditation on winter through travels in Spitsbergen, Iceland, and Wyoming, connecting climate change to human experience in cold landscapes.

🌨️ Gretel Ehrlich spent nearly a decade making multiple trips to Greenland, traveling by dogsled with local hunters and documenting traditional Inuit ways of life that are rapidly disappearing. 🗺️ The book's title "This Cold Heaven" comes from a poem by Danish poet Jens Peter Jacobsen, reflecting the deep connection between Danish and Greenlandic culture. 🐕 The author learned to drive her own dogsled team and survived a near-fatal accident when her team plunged through thin ice into freezing Arctic waters. 🎨 The book weaves together the author's personal experiences with historical accounts from Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen's expeditions in the early 1900s, creating a multi-layered portrait of Greenland across time. 🌅 During her time in Greenland, Ehrlich experienced the unique phenomenon of several months of complete darkness in winter, followed by the return of perpetual daylight in summer—a cycle that deeply affects both human and animal life in the Arctic.