The Snow Child

A bewitching tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s Alaska. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on making a fresh start for themselves in a homestead at the worlds edge in the raw Alaskan wilderness. But as the days grow shorter Jack is losing his battle to clear the land and Mabel can no longer contain her grief for the baby she lost many years before. The evening the first snow falls their mood unaccountably changes. In a moment of tenderness the pair are surprised to find themselves building a snowman - or rather a snow girl - together. The next morning all trace of her has disappeared and Jack cant quite shake the notion that he glimpsed a small figure - a child? - running through the spruce trees in the dawn light. And how to explain the little but very human tracks Mabel finds at
the edge of their property? Written with the clarity and vividness of the Russian fairytale from which it takes its inspiration The Snow Child is an instant classic - the story of a couple who take a child into their hearts all the while knowing they can never truly call her their own. See Judys Review See Richards Review Download A Sample Chapter Of The Snow Child See Eowyn Ivey talk about her book Read about the Author Exclusive Bonus Content Write a Review for The Snow Child Judys Review A bewitching and magical story inspired by an ancient Russian fairy tale in which an elderly childless couple builds a little girl out of snow and are astonished when she comes to life. Eowyn Ivey relates the sadness of Jack and Mabel. They had just one child who died as a baby many years before the
book begins. Mabel never conceived again. Living on the east coast of America Mabel cannot bear her increasing sadness as all her sisters and friends have children creating large families. Eventually desperately unhappy she and Jack take advantage of a US government initiative to enable farmers to settle in Alaska a snowy wilderness that will allow them to make a new start. The book begins in 1920 as Jack struggles to clear the land in their fierce new home and to keep them financially afloat. Meanwhile Mables grief at her childlessness threatens to overwhelm her as she adapts to the loneliness and silence of the raw wild beauty of the Alaskan landscape. By this time the couple are well into middle-age. They know they will never have the child they long for. Then a miracle; the first snow
of the winter arrives and in a rare tender moment Mabel and Jack make a snowgirl in their yard. They dress her in gloves and scarf and fleetingly they feel happy and optimistic. In the morning the snowgirl has disappeared - melted one assumes. But then Jack begins to glimpse"