When You Are Looking For A Magical Story Next Christmas, Pick Up “The Snow Child”! ❄️ 🎄 📖

Reminiscent of bittersweet nostalgia, The Snow Child (by Eowyn Ivey) is the perfect example of balance. It is a story of grief but more bliss, a narrative of suppressed frustration and unmatched tranquillity. It talks about void but more about fulfillment. And it is magical in so many ways. You will feel it in the snow-clad Alaskan landscape, the woods, fields, and a rural cabin inhabited by a lonesome pair.

There are picturesque descriptions of changing seasons, picnics, and the arrival of spring. There is love and the beauty of unusual familial bonds. But above all, there is our mysterious Faina. As unusual as her name, the little girl is a true wonder. And the way the author maintains the clandestine aura about this character adds to the unputdownable quality of this book. 

The Snow Child (Review)

To say that the story is set in the wilderness won’t be an exaggeration. Mabel and Jack, a middle-aged couple, are living a solitary life in a town that doesn’t even have doctors! Everything is untouched by technology, and letters are the prevalent mode of long-distance communication. They grow their vegetables, hunt moose to freeze throughout the winter and bake pies to sell at a local café. And it inspires an amazing pull in the reader to consider moving to the countryside, at least for a while. 

However, the romantic imagery is overshadowed by a perennial gloom- the couple yearns for a child. There is a sad beauty to the whole situation as this yearning is seldom acknowledged. Despite having suffered tremendous loss together and trading cozy city life for a testing rural one, Jack and Mabel seem estranged. That is, until one of the overcast days of snow. The day they laugh and play outdoors like children and even shape the snow into an adorable sculpture- certainly not an average snowman. 

A Believable Fairy Tale

The Snow Child is inspired by the children’s story Little Daughter of the Snow from Arthur Ransome’s Old Peter’s Russian Tales. In the original plot, an old, childless couple builds a snow maiden that magically comes to life, blessing them with the joys of parenthood. It is direct and unapologetic in its affiliation to fantasy. But The Snow Child is the opposite.

Unlike the story that inspired it, the book does not dwell on pixie legends, nor does it recreate overtly supernatural ambiguity. It simply blends into what could be a real-life possibility. The author manages to achieve this effect in three ways. 

Magic Is Only Implied, And Yet It Is Ethereal

Throughout the book, there is no acknowledgment of magic, even though everything about it feels magical. There are no songs to indicate that the titular character is anything but human. No one actually witnesses a snow sculpture coming to life or melting away. And when we say our goodbyes, every time, there is no depiction of her vanishing into thin air or exploding into snowflakes. In fact, the author’s narration style is such that you would end up questioning your imagination if you thought she was telling a magical story!

At the same time, it is too hard to overlook the implications that the author so cleverly makes, most certainly on purpose.

“There in the child’s hand. A single snowflake, luminous and translucent. A sharp-edged miracle.”

“The snowflake was no bigger than the smallest skirt button. It was six pointed with fernlike tips and a hexagonal heart, and it sat in the child’s palm like a tiny feather when it should have melted.”

“….snow fluttered against the child’s skin as if she were made of cold glass.”

Rationality Prevails To Keep You Guessing

The beauty of The Snow Child lies in the fact that every magical possibility can have a rational explanation. The author ensures that every time the reader’s imagination starts to run wild – nevertheless, because of her clever hints- she introduces a chapter or a few lines adding the element of logic and mortality to the drama. And the tact is so amazing that you would be reminded that you may never be able to see the whole picture.

Just like the little unexplained events of our real life, the story of The Snow Child is left open to endless interpretations, seeped in theories that would appeal to the rational mind as much as to an imaginative one. For example, there is repeated mention of cabin fever in the first half of the book, forcing you to consider the possibility that the titular snow child could just be the couple’s wishful thinking. After all, no one else seems to be around when she appears in their lives nor when she pays subsequent visits, only when the weather is freezing.

There also lies an opportunity for horror freaks to marvel at the fact that this character could just be a malevolent spirit out to get lonely couples who dare to wander about uninhabited territory. At the same time, there are incidents that make you question the child’s sanity. Could she be a serial killer in the making? Or worse, could she have murdered her birth parents already? The plot thickens in the most subtle ways you could imagine. It is mysterious and gripping, full of beautiful surprises right up to the end. 

Faina Grows Up!

You read that right. The snow child does not remain a child forever. Unlike the protagonist of the original children’s story, Faina – the probable snow child, goes on to grow up and have a family. She does not simply disappear after people disappoint her. She is strong in many ways, even at the tender age when she encounters Jack and Mabel. While you would expect her to display some supernatural tendency throughout the book, she never does so explicitly.

She hunts, forages, and manages to sustain herself in the middle of nowhere, just like a tough mortal who grew up in the wild. I absolutely loved reading The Snow Child. The writing is appealing and crisp, with no-nonsense. You won’t find any part of the story that feels out of place. It all flows in harmony like the crystal clear waters of a river that just thawed at the onset of summer. You will feel the numerous emotions that each character experiences and find yourself empathizing with all.

The overall vibe of the book is so warm despite it being set in snow for most of the time that you will find yourself smiling more often than once. The book also appealed to my creative side as Mabel indulged in drawing, sketching, and sewing. Above all, the author seems to have painted a picture quite literally where you can clearly visualize the color schemes along with the appearances of every detail in the background. I recommend this book for young adults as well as adults, especially during the holidays or on a rainy afternoon indoors, as you cozy up with a mug of hot chocolate and the real weather resonates with that of the book! You can get the book here! 📖