A writer called Eowyn Ivey

[Mithalwen]

I should thank you for drawing it to my attention. I think it is remarkable and for a first novel astounding - so many first novels are "over written". I don't think as many are as technically accomplished - as well as being "literary" and satisfying, enjoyable reads...

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Mithalwen, your recommendation is another nail in the coffin of my "I don't need a Kindle" resolution - the e-book is considerably cheaper than the hardback, and the paperback won't be out for months...

[Mithalwen]

I have to say, I love this book so much I am considering getting the hardback. I haven't bought a kindle because I am anti realbook more because I will be moving to a smaller house and even here I don't have enough shelves for the real books I own and so tend to pass on the "read once" paperbacks. I also like to travel and have several books on the go at a time. This book I think will be a classic and for me at least I am sure will be a longterm friend. I have to say I have read more since I have had my kindle. It is small enough to keep by me and because you can pick up exactly where you left off it is worth reading a few pages at odd moments. Then there is the access to free classics and long out of print stuff. And for anyone who wants to read in a language not spoken in the country where they live or who travels...it is a boon There is no longer a proper bookshop in my town and so the other joy is that if I hear or read a review of something I like I can take a look before I forget the author's name or title.

I am not an early adopter of new technology . I still use a film camera, I don't have an MP3 players and just a basic mobile but if anyone wants to take my Kindle from me it will be out of my cold dead hands...

And if you want to keep up appearances you can do as my cousin did and get one of these (sadly I had already got a case when we discovered them) http://www.manorbindery.co.uk/New_Ki...everCase_1.htm

[Galadriel55]

Mith, do you mind telling me about one thing that I want to know most about the book (just out of personal interest), which is namely how much did Eowyn Ivey take from the Russian folk story.

The folkstory goes like this:

Once apon a time there lived an old man and an old woman, and they had everything they needed and were generally happy, only they were lonely, because they had no children.

One winter, after a large snowfall, they watched how the children from other houses ran out to play. Why don't we also go? - they thought. So they went outside and build a snow-statue of a girl. Just as they finished, the statue's hair became darker and the lips redder, though the skin remained pale: it turned into a real girl! The old couple rejoiced, and they brought her into their house and loved her like a daughter. They calles the girl Snegurochka (which is crudely translated as Snowling Girl).

All was well until spring came. Then Snegurochka's laughter stopped, and she started avoiding sunlight, hiding instead in the shadows and cool places. She became even more so in the summer. Once, during a hailstorm, she ran outside and played, and when it ended she cried bitterly. Her parents worried about her.

In the summer a group of friends asked Snegurochka to come with them to the woods to have some fun. She didn't want to go, but her parents insisted that it would be well for her to play with friends to lighten her mood. She went reluctantly, and always stayed aside from the games. Her friends lit a bonfire and started jumping over it, and they urged Snagurochka to join them. She jumped, and as she passed over the flames all that was left of her was a cloud of steam.



I read in the book description that a girl made of snow also comes alive, but otherwise the two stories don't seem to have any resemblance... What do you say?

(And I'm so interested because this folkstory is one of those that I grew up on, and I really liked it for it's sadness)

[Mithalwen]

Galadriel, That story is woven in to Eowyn Ivey's - the device being that the wife of EI's old couple, Mabel is the daughter of a literature professor and has known it since childhood. They do build a snow girl but how literally she comes alive is the ambiguity of the story and too much of a spoiler to discuss here. But if you note my current signature which is a quotation from the book you may get a clue as to why I found it ultimately uplifting and positive book - though I think I might have found it bleaker had I read it when in the first flush of youth. But getting increasingly middle aged and emerging from a sad time in my life and facing a new start I found it rather encouraging, Make of that what you will!

[Mithalwen]

BBC radio 4 has the Snow Child as the current book at bedtime (narrated by Miranda Richardson) if anyone is interested. The first episode was last night but is available http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ild_Episode_1/

[Galadriel55]

Oooo, I found the second!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ild_Episode_2/

I'm going to keep an eye on this. I wanna hear it, if I can't read it.

ETA: the third: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ild_Episode_3/