The Snow Child

If you want something to read during all this cold weather we're having, I highly recommend The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.  Or if you want something to cool you off when the weather's warm again, I highly recommend this book.  What I'm saying is you really need to read this book.

I could not put it down.  I read 180 pages of it at work.  That should tell you how glued it was to my hands.  

It's about a childless couple, Jack and Mabel, who move to Alaska in 1920 to start a new life following the stillborn birth of their son.  A HARD new life.  A COLD new life.  An unbelievably harsh life they live in a land that is impossible to farm and their very survival depends on whether or not Jack can get a moose for the winter.

One night, during the first snow, they build a snowman, a little snow girl.  Jack sculpts her a beautiful little face and Mabel wraps a scarf around her neck and adds mittens to the ends of her stick arms.  The next morning, the little snow girl is knocked over and the mittens and scarf are gone.  AND there's a little white-haired girl running around in the woods.

This book is so beautifully written, it's both haunting and magical.  I could almost feel the snow on my face and taste the endless meals of moose and potatoes.  It's happy, it's sad, it's tragic, it's full of hope.  I absolutely loved it!