Dear Great Book Guru,  While at the  Sea Cliff Civic Association's Teen Serenade this week,  I met a friend who had just finished a novel she said was based on a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, but definitely meant for adult readers.  During these lazy, hazy days of August, I am captivated by  its title: SNOW CHILD. Have you read it?  Lover of Summer and Snow

Dear Lover of Summer and Snow,  I really enjoyed the Teen Serenade- what talented  young musicians we have here in Sea Cliff!  Yes, I have read  THE SNOW CHILD  by Eowyn Ivey - actually during the height of our recent heat wave and found it a refreshing and unusual novel.  Set in Alaska in the 1920's, the book opens with Mabel,  a transplanted Virginian trying unsuccessfully to  drown herself in the icy waters near her homestead.  Her husband Jack and she are despondent as they face another winter with little food, friendship,  or fuel. The death of an infant child years before continues to haunt them.  Into this grim story wanders a small sprite of a child who seems at first to be seen only by them but over time becomes a vital part of the small, struggling farm community. The harsh beauty of the land is as much a character in the book as Faina, their snow child.   What is magic, what is real - these are the questions that haunt the reader long after the story has ended.  A lovely, lovely book!

Readers, check out Tim and Cathy Madden's fabulous  online  news site:  northwordnews.com