Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Themes
Synopsis
A couple's lives are changed forever by the arrival of a little girl, wild and secretive, on their snowy doorstep. 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.
Is The Snow Child appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 13 and up.
This lyrical adult literary fantasy explores themes of childlessness, marital strain, depression, and isolation in harsh frontier conditions, but ultimately centers on healing, hope, and found family through a mysterious child who may be magical.
What to know going in
This book has mild violence, no sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include grief, infertility, and depression (see the full list above).
Publisher ages reflect reading level; our rating reflects content maturity — they can differ.
Who'll love this
Readers who love atmospheric stories blending fairy tales with historical settings will be captivated by the mystery of Faina and the Alaskan wilderness.