The Snow Child

This haunting story is set in the Alaskan wilderness in the early 1900’s. Times are bleak for the pioneers of this isolated outpost. Despair has almost consumed childless couple Jack and Mabel until they discover that a snow child (a girl) that they build one evening seems to magically become real – yet is still elusive. There is much that is unsettling in this novel – the characters, their past, their predicament, the fairy tale that Mabel reads and the child herself. I found it a beautiful novel to read, despite these things because ultimately the language, setting and story combine to form a celebration of hope.