The Snow Child – Eowyn Ivey

This is a lovely book, set in Alaska, at the turn of the last century. Mabel and Jack are an older couple, who have escaped their past lives to the frontier of Alaska. It was supposed to be a fresh start – a chance to work together on something, but signs are not looking good that they’ll be able to survive their second winter. But, they make friends with a neighboring family, and the farm slowly starts to come together, and it just seems like they may find what they need in Alaska.

One of Mabel’s failures is that their only child died as he was born, and it’s that lack of children that Mabel is feeling acutely. This is where “The Snow Child” comes in – there’s a Russian fairy tale of an elderly couple that wanted a child so badly that when they made a snow girl, it came to life. And this is when Faina comes into their lives – Jack knows that she’s flesh and blood – he helps her bury her father, but to Mabel, she might just be a fairy tale. But she is a child, and the three of them form a bond. And the question is, will the end of the snow take her away from them?

The author is from Alaska, and it shows in the descriptions of the landscapes in this book – you almost feel like you’re there. And it is a lovely book – a love story on many levels, and well worth the read.