Jacek Dukaj

Ice Jacek Dukaj

14th July 1924: In a Warsaw buried under feet of snow and Russian rule, Venyedikt Yeroslavsky, a dissolute young Polish mathematician, is roused from his bed by two officials from the Ministry of Winter and dispatched to Siberia in search of his long-exiled father. Boarding the Trans-Siberian Express, Venyedikt embarks on an extraordinary journey through a frozen realm, through political, criminal, scientific, philosophical and amorous intrigues to finally stand face to face with something utterly alien…The catalyst for this frosty metamorphosis of 20th Century history is the impact of the Tunguska asteroid, deep in Siberia, in 1908. ICE’s meteor is composed from a strange new form of matter that reveals a hitherto hidden relation between the laws of thermodynamics and logic.

This connection has a physical manifestation – coallessing as quantum apparitions known as ‘Gleissen’. Otherworldly, unknowable, mute – these apparitions of ice and frost stalk the land bringing endless winter wherever they venture. As they move through Russia, agriculture collapses and people flock to cities seeking protection from the deadly cold.

But in their glacial wake the Gleissen also leave incredible wealth, their ‘black physics’ transmuting elements into strange new forms allowing new technologies, industries and economies to prosper. This has drastically altered the global balance of power; the Tsar still rules Russia, the Belle Époque endures, and the First World War never happened. At the heart of it all lies Siberia – the ‘Wild East’ – a magnet for all the political, religious and scientific fevers shaking the world at the dawn of 20th century.

It is the crucible where black physics and the cold logic of winter will forge a new history. So why has Venyedikt been dispatched by the Ministry of Winter to deepest Siberia to make contact with his exiled father? Is it because Benedict’s exiled father has managed, somehow, to communicate with the Gleissen? Or are there other agendas at play?