Synopsis Credit: Barnes & Noble
Published: 2011
Genre: Historical fiction
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart — he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season’s first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone — but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.
This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.
My review
Jack and Mabel moved to Alaskan wilderness to start over and build a life of their own. Trying to get their homestead together is challenging in the harsh Alaskan weather. Jack and Mabel don’t have any children; they had a son who was stillborn, and that has always been a sore topic for them. Mabel has always felt that Jack didn’t support her enough during that time, which plays a significant role in the story later.
On a cold winter’s night, Jack and Mabel decided to have a little fun in the snow and built a snow girl, dressing her in a hat, scarf, and gloves. As time goes on, both Mabel and Jack start to notice a snow child in the woods, accompanied by a fox. Eventually, she becomes like a daughter to them.
Jack and Mabel meet another couple, Esther and George, who live nearby, and they quickly become best friends. When Jack hurts his back, Esther and her son move in to help them out. After learning that Mabel wants to leave and go back, Esther is determined to keep her new friend, not wanting to lose her after just having met.
As I was reading, I tried to determine whether Faina was real or not. I believe that Faina embodies love, longing, and heartbreak, and that she represents Jack and Mabel’s struggle to talk about the death of their son. Faina symbolizes the unspoken love, respect, and need for a child that Jack and Mabel can’t express with words.
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is set against the perfect backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness. It’s a story about taking things as they come, dealing with the unpredictable, and knowing that they can make it through even the toughest situations if they rely on each other.
I loved Mabel’s transformation from the beginning to the end. I admired how she came into her own, stopped doubting herself, and stopped worrying about what others thought of her.
Do you believe that Faina is real? What did you think about Mabel’s transformation? How did the relationship with Esther transform Mabel into the person she becomes? What changes did you notice between Jack and Mabel after Faina showed up?
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did, it has a little bit of everything, if you love magical realism then this book is for you.