The Snow Child: A Novel by Eowyn Ivey

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Published: 2012

I'm not sure exactly what words can describe this story. I can't say that I immediately fell in love with the book. The story unfolded slowly and gradually drew me into the "web" of this "fairy tale". It's a delightfully engaging story of a couple, Jack and Mabel, who move in 1920 to "live off the land" building a home in a secluded part of Alaska.

They weren't prepared for the lessons they would learn about themselves out in their isolated cabin. As the couple struggle to survive the cold, bitter winter, they discover they are not alone. Likewise, they learn that survival depends upon more than food and shelter when they befriend a family living nearby. Mabel often describes an old fairy tale within the book from her childhood which almost seems to parallel their own lives.

Still reveling in heartache from the children they could never have, Jack and Mabel build a “snow child” one night. Mystically, their “snow child” seems to appear as a young waif girl named Faina who lives in the woods with her fox companion. Just as the couple begin to love and care for her like their own child, they are forced to accept the reality of their dreams.

This novel is uniquely universal, in my opinion, as it shares many themes to which most people can relate. Feelings of hope and despair, fascination and joy, anger and forgiveness, loss and sorrow.....