23 Nov 2016

book: the snow child by eowyn ivey

I actually read this at the end of 2015 but it didn't seem appropriate to write a review of it when this is definitely more of a winter book.


The blurb, from Amazon.co.uk reads as follows:

"Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding: is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her?"

The book was a bit of a slow starter but I guess much of that was setting the scene. Jack and Mabel are an older couple who have moved to the countryside to try and forget the emotional turmoil they'd been through earlier on in their relationship. However, once you get passed all the scene setting, it really is an intriguing and absorbing book.

The little girl who arrives into their lives is a complete mystery and I found myself eager to know more. So much so that once I was about a third of the way in, I read the rest so fast, I finished it in three days! We follow the story of Jack and Mabel as they struggle through winter after winter and I kept wondering how the novel would end. When it did end, I thought it was fitting and the only way I can describe this book is that it's a modern fairytale but for adults.

Overall, 7.5 out of 10 - marked down slightly by the slow start. A well written book which has enough mystery to keep the intrigue but enough revealed at the right times for the reader.

1 comment

  1. Sounds like a great reading!

    I am thinking about reading it today when I will be on a train from Rome to Venice.

    Couldn't track the palette down, but I don't despair.. a trip to London will be scheduled soon enough.

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