Just So Stories

Harper Collins Australia

April 2024

• ISBN: 9780008496067
• ISBN 10: 0008496064
• Imprint: HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks
• RRP: $16.99

I had read about the Frost Fairs in London some time ago, after a mention of these in another book and they really must have been quite a spectacle. An authentic Frost Fair will never happen again – read here to find out why – but there is quite a lot of primary source material to draw upon, and Natasha Hastings has achieved a remarkable debut historical/fantasy novel chronicling a Frost Fair with a very spooky theme woven throughout.

Thomasina’s life has been grim since the death of her twin, Arthur. Her sweetmaker father and mother both struggle with their grief in very different ways, and Thomasina’s own grief is loaded down as she works doubly hard to help her father in their shop.

When the Thames freezes over and there is to be a Frost Fair, there is a sense of both novelty and expectation in the air. And when a mysterious stranger dressed in very old-fashioned clothing appears and tempts Thomasina by promising to fulfil her deepest wish to bring Arthur back to life, things are even more strange and wonderful – at first. As days and weeks go by, the stranger and the ‘other’ Frost Fair become more and more fraught with danger for Thomasina. The new friends she makes are Anne, the apothecary in training, and young aristocrat, Henry. Though two very different personalities, each has their own part to play in rescuing Thomasina from the dire, and almost disastrous, consequences of her association with Inigo, Father Winter and the Frost Folk.

This is really an engrossing read from start to finish and readers will inadvertently learn much about life in London at the time of The Great Frost and the very first Frost Fair. They will also be deliciously creeped out by Inigo , Father Winter and the assorted perils that inhabit the other fair. The occasional illustrations throughout bring the setting and characters to life in a highly suitable style.

I love the thought that this is the first in a proposed series and look forward to another adventure with Thomasina, Anna and Henry. I give it a 5 ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️ and, by the way, even though the Thames no longer freezes over, the Frost Fair has been revived to give today’s crowds a taste of those times of the snowy carnival, which must have been such a welcome break in what was often a harsh and difficult period of time.