The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, Headline Review, $29.99
In the publishing industry there has been a lot of chatter about this debut novel, a lyrical charmer based on a Russian folk tale about a childless couple who conjure a girl made out of snow.
It’s apt that Alaskan author Eowyn Ivey was named after a character in The Lord of The Rings, for this is story that interweaves the realities of life in Alaska’s tough wintry wastelands in the 1920s with the magical whimsy of snow foxes, wolverines and an elusive otherwordly girl, who lives at one with the frosty savage landscape — in fact a hobbit or two would fit right in here.
Faina is the snow child who captures the hearts of Jack and Mabel, newcomers to Alaska where they hope for a fresh start to escape the pain of the death of their baby.
The descriptions are poetic and at times so evocative you can feel the chill lifting from each page, but the heavy pall of the couple’s despair can also be cripplingly depressing.
We long for Faina to save our couple from their — and our — torment and while delightful at times, it is a mighty long trudge through the snow to find out what happens next.
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