My Review

It is rare for me to read an older book; I am always trying to conquer all that is new! But because this book was recommended to me by my close friend and Book Nation Theatre Advisor, Luisa, I decided to give it a try. Published in 2011, The Snow Child takes place in Alaska in the 1920s. Jack and Mabel are unable to have children and are just trying to get by. Thier marriage is becoming increasingly distant and they are struggling to keep up with the work on their farm. During a snowstorm they try to have some fun and go outside to build a snowman that looks like a child. The next day it is gone, but then they see a little girl all alone in the woods.

So this is where readers have to have a suspension of disbelief to really dive in…I did and it was wonderful! We follow the couple and the young, blonde girl, whose existence seems to mimic a fairy tale, through the changing of the seasons and over the course of many years. Jack and Mabel think of the girl called Faina as their daughter, and for a while nobody else sees her but them. No spoilers here so you will have to grab a copy and settle in for the journey.

There is a magical element to The Snow Child and I found the story to be emotional and compelling. Author Eowyn Ivey, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist who lives in Alaska, tells a beautiful story filled with love and hope set amidst the hardships of the wilderness and faced with the challenges of life itself. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading Ivey’s new book available Feb. 2025, Black Woods, Blue Sky.

About the Author

Eowyn (pronounced A-o-win) LeMay Ivey was raised in Alaska and continues to live there with her husband and two daughters. She worked for nearly a decade as a bookseller at independent Fireside Books in Palmer, Alaska, and prior to that as a reporter for the local newspaper, The Frontiersman.

Her new novel, Black Woods, Blue Sky will be released February 2025. To the Bright Edge of the World was published in 2016. Her debut novel, The Snow Child, has sold more than a million copies worldwide and is a New York Times bestseller published in more than 25 languages. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, a UK National Book Award winner, an Indies Choice award for debut fiction, and a PNBA Book Award winner

Eowyn’s essays and short fiction have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, London’s Observer Magazine, Sunday Times Magazine, Sunday Express Magazine, Woman & Home Magazine, the anthology Cold Flashes, the North Pacific Rim literary journal Cirque, and Alaska Magazine, among other publications.