In this magical debut, a couple’s lives are changed forever by the arrival of a little girl, wild and secretive, on their snowy doorstep. Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart — he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity … moment of levity during the season’s first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone — but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.
This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.
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An exquisite book. Set in 1920s Alaska, with gorgeous descriptions of an unfamiliar (to me) place, sympathetic characterisations, and the mysterious snow child of the title. Wistful, touching, intriguing and thought-provoking. I did guess about two-thirds through how it would end, but somehow that made it even more satisfying: the narrative seemed to require that ending.
A wonderful book to read during a hot summer. I could almost feel the snow.
The Snow Child is about a childless couple that has recently moved to the Alaskan frontier and are struggling to adapt to the harsh lifestyle and loneliness. After the first snowfall, they make a snow child in the yard. The next morning, the snow child is gone and a little girl appears in the woods. Eowyn Ivey really evokes the starkness of an Alaskan winter and the story has a sense of mysticism that makes you wonder. It’s a great book to get lost in during a snowstorm, when you are cuddled up under a warm blanket.
I’ve accidentally stumbled into a pattern of reading books about slightly-magical wintry forests. I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon, though. This one was just as delightful and frigid as the ones that came before.
In the 1920s, an older couple decides to homestead in the wilderness of Alaska. What begins as ambitions of a liberating adventure quickly devolves into a lonely, desperate struggle for survival… until they meet a flighty little girl who just *might* have been their little snow-sculpture come to life.
The story is chock-full of nuanced characters; quiet, heartbreaking moments; and breathless tumbles through the unforgiving wild. I love, love, loved this.
If it’s cold and snowing outside, it could be the perfect day to read THE SNOW CHILD. I’m not normally a fan of the supernatural, but the way the author combined a harsh reality with the mystic and unexplained made for a dramatic and most unusual read. At first the book is rooted in a tale of Alaskan homesteaders in 1920 with all its hardships and disappointments. The descriptions of the vast and silent wilderness are wonderful, and you can almost feel the frost on your skin, the warmth of a fire inside, and the loneliness.
But then the isolated and barren couple build a snowman, and thereafter the magic begins. I’ve heard this book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and if so it was probably due to the originality of this premise and the wonderful writing, such as this, the opening paragraph:
“Mabel had known there would be silence. That was the point, after all. No infants cooing or wailing. No neighbor children playfully hollering down the lane. No pad of small feet on wooden stairs worn smooth by generations, or clackety-clack of toys along the kitchen floor. All those sounds of her failure and neglect would be left behind, and in their place there would be silence.”
“In my old age, I see that life itself is often more fantastic and terrible than the stories we believed as children, and that perhaps there is no harm in finding magic among the trees.”
Many Russian folk tales feature a common character known as Snegurochka (the Snow Maiden). She is the daughter of the immortal Gods: Father Frost and Mother Spring, and she usually goes to live with humans to care for an elderly couple who have no children. Some folk tales feature her as a girl unable to know love until Mother Spring takes pity and gives her this ability, but as soon as she falls in love, her heart warms her and she melts. Other tales show her melting when coming in contact with fire or warmth. In Eowyn Ivey’s debut novel: The Snow Child, all three of these themes are incorporated and the result is otherworldly. This novel is harsh and feral but also shows the beauty of resilience, it is both sad and hopeful, it is filled with magical realism but manages to remain palpably real. I found The Snow Child to be absolutely stunning and I can’t believe I waited this long to read it. There were times it felt a bit too long which served as a sporadic distraction, but overall it was a near perfect read for the winter season. Seriously, check it out.
My favorite quote:
“She could not fathom the hexagonal miracle of snowflakes formed from clouds, crystallized fern and feather that tumble down to light on a coat sleeve, white stars melting even as they strike. How did such force and beauty come to be in something so small and fleeting and unknowable? You did not have to understand miracles to believe in them, and in fact Mabel had come to suspect the opposite. To believe, perhaps you had to cease looking for explanations and instead hold the little thing in your hands as long as you were able before it slipped like water between your fingers.”
I loved this book but it was very strange to me in a dreamlike way. Stark, beautiful and compelling.
Based on a Russian fairy tale, a beautiful and odd story containing magical realism. It is set in Alaska in the 1930s, and the imagery is strong. The way of life in a harsh environment is realistically represented, while the fairy tale motif fits right in.
The Snow Child effortlessly skates the line between realism and magic in beautiful, simple prose. The idea for the novel comes from a fairy tale I remember reading to my children when they were little. Before picking up this novel I thought the premise was completely unlikely, even hokey, but from the first page I was thoroughly immersed in the Alaskan wilderness and the lives of these characters. I came to believe in them and understand them. Most surprising was the intense suspense created by the comings and goings of the snow maiden. She is the personification of a beautiful but ever-changing wilderness, and like the main characters in the novel, we want her to remain with us while constantly fearing the moment when she will be gone.
This is one of those books that changes you fundamentally after reading it. I was sad when it ended, i wanted, no i NEEDED more. So beautifully written, glorious descriptions of the land and the people on it. So badly wanted this to be a work of non fiction.
While I rather liked the idea of the story, and I felt like it could have been a great one, I think it just didn’t get there for me. The writing was beautiful and I was interested in the characters and what would happen next, but it felt like it kind of dragged at the beginning and was very rushed at the end.
I’m usually a very big fan of fairy tale retellings, so I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. I hadn’t ever heard this particular fairy tale before, but I still feel like it’s one I could have really enjoyed. The idea of a couple desperately wanting a child and finally able to (sort of) have one is beautiful. The descriptions in the book were in depth. It had almost everything it needed to be a fantastic book, and I’m sure for some it truly was. For me, it was just too slow up until the ending. I really wish we had gotten more information of what happened in the immediate days after what I will call “the tragedy.” It was like it happened and then we fast forwarded several years to see how everyone was doing, but we didn’t get the sort of closure we needed from the actual event. It was rushed and glossed over.
Another warning, this is not a typical HEA book. You will see some happiness but not in the way you would expect.
Wow. What a book! I fell in love after the first couple of words really. This book is haunting, but not scary. It’s emotional and hard and healing and just lovely. Very whimsical and magical while being grounded in reality. I think that’s what happened in the story too. The fairy tale got smacked in the face by reality and unfortunately, couldn’t survive it. There’s a dark beauty to Alaska and to this story. I’d highly recommend it.
I really enjoyed this book, and found it quite refreshing. The story follows a lonely older couple living in Alaska. The book has a really powerful beginning where we travel into Mabel’s mind and her thoughts of despair at the life she is now leading. Then Mabel and Jack make a snow girl, and their lives change. The writing is excellent and really draws you in. It is a poignant and beautiful read, and I was hooked from the first page. I loved all the characters and found myself reading later into the night just to stay with the story. Eowyn has a way with words that captured my attention and held it. I would definitely read more from her.
This has languished on my want to read shelf for a long time, so I thought I’d make it a priority. Magical realism is hard for me, there’s a fine line between what I enjoy and what is not fantastical enough, but not realistic enough, and this I struggled with – I couldn’t tell if Faina really was a snow child they’d wished for or a regular human child that they let remain feral and unable to function as a regular adult by the end. I wish we’d received more answers, it felt like a lot was left open to interpretation. It was an interesting retelling though, and I’m not mad I picked it up.
I loved this story and highly recommend it!
I read this on my own and then a second time with a book club. It was maybe even better the second time. Fairy tales are one of my favorite genres, and I love how this book mixes the unreal with the real. Beautiful.
Just beautiful writing. The story of Jack and Mabel, their past tragedy, and how their desire for family shapes and drives them as they fight for survival in rural Alaska. The scene setting is superbly done. You can feel the cold, experience their desperation, and live through every line of tension between the two main characters – the push and pull of their love and disappointments. This book comes highly recommended by me. The writing talent shines through every word.
The most magical book I have ever read. Recommend this book with 10 stars.
One of my all time favorite books ever.
Jack and Mabel always expected to have a large family. But the years passed and they had only one stillborn child. Mabel’s broken heart can’t tolerate being around her siblings and their large families any longer so she and Jack decide to move to Alaska.
But life is still hard in Alaska, especially during the long, dark winters. When the first snowstorm of the season arrives, Jack and Mabel playfully build a snow girl, complete with coat, mittens, and a sweet smile. Imagine their astonishment when they find that the snow girl has vanished overnight and small footprints lead away into the woods.
I enjoyed this but as a woman who has chosen not to have children, I don’t think it speaks to me the same way it speaks to mothers or those who long to hold little ones in their arms. But even I found Mabel and Jack’s plight heartbreaking and rushed to find out exactly what was going on with the little snow girl. Was she magic? Was she an orphan who coincidentally found the childless couple on the night they built a snow girl?
“We never know what is going to happen, do we? Life is is always throwing us this way and that. That’s where the adventure is. Not knowing where you’ll end up or how you’ll fare. It’s all a mystery, and when we say any different, we’re just lying to ourselves. Tell me, when have you felt most alive?”
The combination of the harsh frontier life, the magic of the snow girl (was it magic?), and the vivid descriptions of the beautiful Alaskan scenery kept me turning pages.
There are a few scenes that might be triggers for some readers, as noted in the details above. I otherwise recommend it for readers who are looking for a touch of magic in a long, cold winter.
Great winter reading.