Synopsis:

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.

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What To Expect:

Readers can expect a retelling of a Russian fairytale: The Snow Maiden, with themes of depression and loneliness, stemming from the loss of a child.

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Content Warnings:

Language: Mild – Damn, hell

Sexual Content: Closed Door – Sexual content implied + steamy kissing, nothing descriptive

Violence: Moderate – Hunting wild game

Substance Use: Mild – Drinking (of age)

Prejudices: None

Religious Themes: Use of “oh my god / dear god,” praying

Other Topics: Heavy (death of an infant); Mild description of childbirth; Attempted suicide

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