Fairytale/Folktale Adaption: Part 2 "The Snow Child"

First, how do you like the new look? I decided it was time for a change.

Second, back to my fairytale adaptions! I love a good adaption, and I hope you do too dear reader.

"The Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey

Jack and Mabel dreamed of a child. A little one to run around, help with the farm, create chaos, and be the most loved and cherished blessing in their lives. Unfortunately, fate had not been kind to them in this respect.

Alaska, 1920. On the frontier, Jack and Mabel started a new life, but after a couple years of attempting to live off the land, they have not gotten far. Isolated from the outside world and a quiet couple as is, Mabel finds her days lonely and Jack, ever aging, is finding the land more and more difficult to work. The harsh winters and even harsher landscape make living a chore and the wilderness bites at them. One night, on a whim, the couple builds a snow child with Mabel’s scarf and gloves. The next day, the snow child is destroyed, but wandering around the woods is a beautiful little girl with pale skin, hair as white as snow, and icy blue eyes who is wearing the scarf and gloves. Mabel and Jack slowly form a relationship with this young girl and build on it throughout the years until they think of her as their own child.

Intertwined in a story of heartache and wonder is a beautiful tale about a mysterious child and the couple who love her. This is a wonderful retelling of an old Russian folktale that is rich in atmospheric detail and runs beneath the surface. Here is an adult folktale come to life and Ivey does a beautiful job of showing the reader what frontier Alaska is like on a daily basis and how this couple came to be there, stay there, and eventually call it their home.

Although the novel is a bit slow, especially at first, it is worth a read. This is a story that will stick with you and make you shiver from the descriptions of the cold, dark days of Alaskan winter.