What has marked Penney out from the start is her ability to make her extensive historical research come alive * Sunday Herald * This is an epic love story set against the forbidding beauty of snow meadows. A perfect winter read * Red Magazine * A beautifully written tale, elegant and well-observed, full of powerful descriptions of a dazzling landscape * Sunday Express * This . . . powerful drama is played out against a landscape that dominates [Penney's] imagination * Daily Mail * Curl up with this stunningly evocative tale about an intrepid young female explorer. As immersive as it is mesmerising, this is a novel that you won't ever forget * Heat * It is a tribute to Penney's superlative descriptive skills that the book's erotic charge is so startlingly effective, and that her icy landscapes cast such a lasting, almost hallucinatory spell. This combination is the true rocket fuel of Under a Pole Star, and what makes it resonate long after the Snow Queen has divulged her long-held secret * Guardian * A terrific and beautifully written yarn that will make readers yearn to travel and fall in love in a cold climate * The Times * Penney works hard to fill her canvas with colour and conviction * Sunday Times *

Stef Penney grew up in Edinburgh. She has degrees in Philosophy and Theology and Film and TV, and was selected for the Carlton Television New Writers Scheme and has since written and directed two short films. She is the author of The Tenderness of Wolves and The Invisible Ones.