The Snow-Child by Eowyn Ivey.


"A beauty that ripped you open and scoured you clean" as you floundered through the Alaskan wilderness.

A compelling and beautifully written debut novel that is highly recommended, combining folklore, the supernatural and mystery.

It seems that life is full of oxymorons. You don't have to be a literary genius to work that one out. Joy and sorrow. Life and death. black and white. An endless list of contrasts.
Life doesn't go the way we plan or hope Ivey tells us. A truism?

The story is set in the 1920s. Life has been cruel to Mable and Jack the two main characters. Through the course of the novel Mabel realises that joy and sorrow go hand in hand. It seems you can't have one without the other. I found her an interesting character although sometimes too pessimistic, harbouring thoughts of suicide as the novel opens-toying with the idea of ending it all. She is uncomfortable with the harsh Alaskan environment, unhappy and carrying the heavy burden of guilt, sadly for her stillborn son many years back. Middle-aged and childless she sees herself as a failure as a woman.

Mysteriously, she admits to being driven to Alaska by fear of all things. Reserved, insecure and lacking in confidence she wants to bury herself in a remote and isolated place with Jack, presumably hoping to eventually find peace, happiness and harmony as well as self-sufficiency through farming. Her life was a paradox, a mixture of darkness and light and sadness. We are constantly aware of her discomfort and her recurrent nightmares of babies and snow in a harsh and dangerous environment that doesn't suffer fools gladly.
" Alaska gave up nothing easily. It was lean and wild and indifferent to a man's struggle."

Jack is sensitive and perceptive to Mabel in some ways but he cannot always provide her with the emotional support she needs. He is very good at repressing his feelings by walking away from her when he cannot comfort or reassure her. They build their future around farming and for Jack, working single-handedly it proves hard, almost an impossible task when the land is a barren wasteland.

A tragic accident, a broken back foretells imminent ruin. Sporadic sobbing for a pathetically self-confessed "useless burden" and out of desperation he begs Mable to leave him and return to her family where she can be cared for properly.

The Bensons, wonderful neighbours, step in and offer a crucial lifeline. Esther Benson nurses Jack giving him laudanum and moonshine whilst her son Garrett and Mabel work together in the fields planting seeds. Mabel develops as a character;she shows perseverance and sheer determination to be useful. She is filled with a kind of pride she has never experienced before.

There are some lighter moments between Jack and Mable then later on with Faina, the snow-child where they become hypnotised by the snow falling and playfully throw snowballs at each other as if they are trying to recapture their lost youth. Then they create snow angels and enjoy skating as a family. Mabel is the one that suggests building a snow-girl and they decorate their creation with a scarf and mittens.

Like the Russian fairytale Snegurochka and Arthur Ransome's The Little Daughter of the Snow Ivey's snow-child comes to life and becomes the daughter that Mabel and Jack yearn for.

Faina is an embodiment of contrasts-she is fierce yet fragile, violent yet beautiful. Tough yet delicate. In essence, a mysterious being. Even as a child, she knew the land by heart and she saves Garrett Benson's life when he becomes lost, steering him towards Mable and Jack's homestead. She symbolises innocence and yet displays an uncanny wisdom and knowledge far beyond her youthful years.
She seemed both newly born and as old as the mountains.


She is wild like the animals and survives on hunting and feeding from the animals and birds that she snares. She visits Mable and Jack each winter and then mysteriously disappears in the spring. There are moments of joy as the parent-child relationship grows, tinged with longer-lasting moments of sadness. Like the fairytale, Mabel constantly worries that Faina will melt and leave them for ever. Losing one child is a tragedy but two?

If an old couple created a snow-girl what would she be to them? A daughter? Or a ghost? Or perhaps an illusion created by cabin fever? Intriguing? I'll leave you to work that one out for yourselves!
Publishers: Headline Review. ISBN: 978-0-7553-8053-4.

Copyright 2013. Permission must be obtained from the author to reproduce any of the contents expressed here.

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