A couple move to Alaska to start a new life. Previously in Pennsylvania Mabel suffered a miscarriage and herself and Jack realise they cannot have children. One night while it's snowing they create a child out of the snow. The next day the red gloves and mittens are missing and they start to believe they see a child running through the trees. The child turns out to be Faina. Much of the book deals with Mabel's belief that this child is the child they made out of snow. It deals with 'cabin fever' in those long winter months, especially after remembering a story her literature professor father had when Mabel was young. Another family close by, the Bensons, become friends with Jack and Mabel and throughout the years go without seeing the girl, believing her to be a figment of their imagination. Towards the end of the story the way the girl is described is less magical and fairy like. As we find out early on Faina's father has died in the wilderness and she is out their alone with a fox who follows her for food, she disappears in Spring and Summer as she prefers the colder mountains, and the snow. Their are clues to lead you to believe she is real or unreal. Eventually the Bensons meet her, and as she grows she becomes more and more civilised. Eventually having a baby, marrying but then dying. As the snow child does in the fairytale.
The beginning passage describes the silence of the Alaskan wilderness and we meet Mabel as she is still in grief. The passage describes all the noises she could not hear; the clatter of toys or infants. I created this piece from the opening paragraph.
I like the idea of images interweaving with each other. The use of text isn't necessarily apt for book illustrations but there is possibility for promotional posters and displays.
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