It is the 1920's. Jack and Mable, a married couple in their forties, move to untamed, wild Alaska. Their first year is rough. Not only are they adjusting to a new way of life they are also adjusting to each other. For years the couple struggled to have a child but it was not to be.
Mabel is feeling pretty good on the night of the first snow fall and she convinces Jack to make a snowman with her. They turn their snowman into a snowgirl complete with hat, scarf and mittens. The next morning Jack sees a little girl in the forest. The snowgirl is no more. Her accessories are gone and all that is left in her place is a small pile of snow and small footprints leading away into the forest. Mable sees the girl too and eventually the girl warms up to them and starts visiting the couple.
Mabel is convinced the girl is magic and has her sister send her a book their father use to read to her as a little girl. The book is in Russian but it has illustrations and her sister's letter explains the snowgirl's folklore. There are many versions but in all an old childless couple create a snowgirl who comes to life and as winter ends somehow or another so does the snowgirl. However Jack is not convinced. After all in secret he helped the little girl bury the frozen body of her father and he has seen her man made home built in the mountainside.
For years the girl arrives with the first snow fall and leaves for higher mountains by winter's end. She grows and Jack and Mabel consider her as their own child. But no one else has seen the girl until she is sixteen or so and is at the homestead when Jack and Mabel's close friends come by for a surprise visit with their nineteen year old son Garrett. The boy finds a reason to stay in the barn for the winter and soon he starts spending all his time with the girl, Faina. They fall in love and Faina gets pregnant. The new couple gets married and Faina stays for the summer for the first time. She grows lean and tan.
Right before winter the baby, a little boy, is born. Faina is very happy but two weeks later it is snowing and she falls ill. Mabel takes her out into the snow to cool her fever. Sitting on a chair wrapped in blankets, Mabel falls asleep. When she is awoken Faina is gone and all that is left of her is the pile of her clothes. It was all so heartbreaking! For Jack and Mabel, Garrett and the baby too. I really don't understand why she fell ill in the winter and not in the summer. Even though the end is sad there is a little epilogue that takes place a few years later and gives a glimpse into their lives without Faina.
I loved this book. It is so beautifully written and gives a real idea about what it would have been like to live in rural Alaska. I loved how whenever Faina spoke there were no quotation marks giving her an air of mystery. I always read her parts in my mind as a whisper. I loved how Jack accepted Faina for who she was and didn't try to change her. Which in turn droves me nuts about Mabel. For someone who believed Faina was magical and could melt at any moment she sure did try hard to push her into a conventional life. Mabel seemed to worry so much about Faina melting that I was surprised she had no issues with her staying through the summer. Well maybe she did have issues with that but I just interpreted it as issues with losing Faina to Garrett.
Quote:
“We never know what is going to happen, do we? Life is always throwing us this way and that. That’s where the adventure is. Not knowing where you’ll end up or how you’ll fare. It’s all a mystery, and when we say any different, we’re just lying to ourselves. Tell me, when have you felt most alive?”
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