Cold: The perfect Christmas gift with an afterword by R.F. Kuang

'The snow did not numb Fiammarosa; it pricked and hummed and brought her, intensely, to life . . . This is who I am, the cold princess thought to herself, wriggling for sheer pleasure in the snow-dust, this is what I want.'

A princess is born in summer. Frail from infancy, she is cosseted by all who surround her and, as she grows, is protected from the elements outside. One winter’s night, she escapes into the castle’s grounds and discovers that, far from the cold being harmful, it awakens her. She is an icewoman: she becomes her true self in the frost and snow.

But when the princes arrive – as princes must – the princess awakens a second time. Falling unexpectedly for a young glassblowing royal from the hot southern lands, she is faced with a choice. Should she follow him to the desert and live a life unfulfilled? Or remain where she is and live without love?

**FROM THE BOOKER PRIZEWINNING AUTHOR OF POSSESSION**

PRAISE FOR A. S. BYATT:

'A storyteller who could keep a sultan on the edge of his throne for a thousand and one nights' The New York Times Book Review
'A master of the short story' David Mitchell
'[An] exhilarating genius' Guardian