Book Snapshots: "The Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey.

Confession:  I purchased The Snow Child
solely on the basis of its wonderful dust-jacket.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is an unusual novel, and that may make it worth reading for some folks.  Set in 1920s, it is about a couple who, at about age 50, move to Alaska to homestead.  This couple, Jack and Mable, have no children and the pain they feel over this is the book's central issue.

Amid the hardship and isolation of homesteading, Jack and Mable either see or imagine a little girl living in the wilderness.  Mable thinks the girl may be a child they created out of their love, longing for a child, and snow.  She recalls that during her own childhood, she read a Russian fable about an old couple who had done such a thing.  Eventually Jack and Mable meet the mysterious little girl, and the novel unwinds from there.  Who, or what, is the child?  and what will happen to her?

Author Eowyn Ivey, a native of Alaska, does great work showing life on the frontier, its challenges and beauties.  She uses the difficult life her characters have chosen so late (people only lived on average to their mid-50s in 1920) to further dramatizes Jack and Mable's sorrow over their childless state, which pumps up our apprehension when a 'snow' child arrives on the scene.  Although I found the last quarter of the book unsatisfying, The Snow Child is certainly a unique story.  If that is what you are looking for, then check it out and let me know what you think about this book.  I'd like to hear your views.