The Snow Child

I very much enjoyed reading this beautiful debut novel The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey which is set in Alaska in the 1920s.  Jack and Mabel are a middle-aged couple who are attracted to this frontier area.  They have a tragic past from which they may be trying to "escape".  With the first snow, they build a "snow girl" and dress her with a blue coat.  The following day the "snow girl" is destroyed and the clothes gone.  They start to see a young girl around their homestead and over time the girl, Faina, wearing the blue coat overcomes her timidity and befriends the couple.  She is a child of the snow and the forest and can take care of herself.  Over the years, she is persuaded to spend more time in "civilization" and then things get complicated.  The author took her inspiration from a Russian folk tale of a middle-aged couple who build a "snow girl" who comes to life, but when betrayed, disappears.  This is very well written - just lovely. 5/5