The Snow Child

Eowyn Ivy wrote The Snow Child. I read it because it is set in Alaska on a farm which is one of the flag stops on the Alaskan railway. Mabel and Jack move to Alaska from their home on the east coast near Boston to get away from it all. They want to escape and Alaska gives them that chance. They set out farming and the first winter is hard. Jack and Mabel have to kill their chickens because they can't afford chicken feed anymore. Killing a moose is the difference between life and death for them and although moose steaks get tiresome by spring, moose steaks are better than nothing. With the help of a neighboring farm, Mabel learns to spot wild blueberries and wild cranberries that can spice up the moose steaks. The boys on the neighboring farm help Jack plow and plant his fields. Jack and Mabel are childless and this weighs heavy on their hearts. Mabel's father was a professor of literature and he often read a book to her as a child called "The Snow Child." This is a Russian fairy tale about a childless couple who make a daughter out of snow.  Life is hard in Alaska. Jack and Mabel are an odd yet loving couple with terrible communication skills. For a while I forgot this was fiction and I was amazed they survived another Arctic winter. This story kept me enthralled to the very end.