The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is a book I couldn't put down. The story begins in Alaska in 1920. Mabel and Jack have moved there for a new start away from family who have the children they cannot. But life is hard as Jack tries to clear land and Mabel still mourns the death of the baby she lost many years ago. Everything changes on the night of the first snow. They build themselves a snow child, a little girl and dress her in Mabel's red mittens and scarf. The next morning it has all gone, including the scarf and mittens. So begins a mystery as a little girl comes into their life but will not stay. Mabel remembers a Russian folk story which she was told as a little girl and the girl seems to be playing out this fairy story.
The book is moving and mysterious. Is the child real or a figment of their imagination? This is such a different story to what you would expect. The background of the vast isolation of living in Alaska, the hardships, the scenery. I could visualise it all. This is well written and a first novel for Ivey. I was hooked from the very start.
The book is moving and mysterious. Is the child real or a figment of their imagination? This is such a different story to what you would expect. The background of the vast isolation of living in Alaska, the hardships, the scenery. I could visualise it all. This is well written and a first novel for Ivey. I was hooked from the very start.
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