Any book that is a retelling of a fairy tale is already going to rank high in my list of favorites, even if I haven’t read it yet. Luckily, The Snow Child is absolutely gorgeous and worth all the love.
The Snow Child is set in Alaska in 1920, a harsh and desolate place to be. Jack and Mabel are inexperienced farmers who have lost their child and went as far as they could from home in an attempt to pull themselves back together. Jack is unable to deal with the hardships of a farmer’s life in Alaska and Mabel can’t get over the death of her baby. She does a lot of moping.
One night, after the first snowfall of the season, Jack and Mabel finally have a moment of lightness and play, and they build a snow child. The next morning, the snow child has gone but the couple find that there is a little, wild girl with a pet fox hiding in the woods. Lives are changed, broken hearts are mended and broken again and again, and a story is told that stays with you for days.
The Snow Child is heartbreaking, beautiful, haunting – all the things a good fairytale should be.
Cannonball Read V 