Sally Gardner

‘A darkly scattered fable told with beauty, magic, love but also heart-wrenching realism ... Fans of The Familiars and The Binding will love this’ MY WEEKLY ‘It’s fabulous, we should all have copies’ Simon Mayo, Scala Radio ‘A glorious love story, a spellbinding fable’ Adele Parks

The Snow Song

Eleanor Luhar

I listened to the audiobook of this, and luckily I quite liked the narrator. But I'll try and focus my review on the actual writing/novel.
Edith is the daughter of a cabinet maker, in a small village near a mountain. She meets Demetrius, an outsider, and immediately falls in love. They plan to be married, but Edith's father - and most of the village - is against it. The cabinet maker makes a deal with the butcher that if Demetrius, a shepherd, doesn't return from moving his sheep before the first snow fall, Edith must marry the butcher. The cabinet maker happily agrees, without a care for what Edith wants. But Edith is certain her love will return for her.
The snow falls. Demetrius is nowhere to be seen. Edith is worried, but nobody is willing to go looking for her lover. She is sentenced to marry the butcher, a widower and grandfather. That's when things start to go a bit... strange.
It starts with Edith losing her voice. She's certain something awful has happened to Demetrius, and the pain she feels is unbearable. Her hair, once a luscious black, turns ghostly white. While silent, Edith becomes a good listener. She hears the terrible stories of various villagers, the abuse her friends have suffered, the superstitions that force everyone to follow tradition and make no move towards the future. Eventually, her wedding day comes around, but Edith doesn't stick around for it. She runs away, makes herself a home in the woods. But she's not alone.
The ending was especially poignant, in my opinion. Edith does discover the fate of her lover eventually, and she goes on to live a long, content life. Everyone in the village who did wrong gets what's coming to them. And eventually, Edith and Demetrius are reunited.
There are moments of joy, but a lot more heartache and anger and evil. But the book has a very whimsical, lyrical feel to it, and the way many characters are referred to by title, not name, feels very much like a fairytale. There are hints of magic and paranormal elements, alongside mystery. It's a very unique combination.
But I must emphasise that this is really quite dark in many ways. There is murder, there is incest, there is rape and abuse and misogyny. As I mentioned, though, most of the wrongdoers are eventually punished or righted in some way or another.
While I definitely enjoyed this book, there was something missing for me. It just didn't quite reach 5 star status for me. As an audiobook, I really enjoyed listening to it in the evenings; the narrator's voice fit the whimsical, almost dreamy writing so well! A strong 4 stars.

Hannekei

'A darkly scattered fable told with beauty, magic, love but also heart-wrenching realism ... Fans of The Familiars and The Binding will love this' MY WEEKLY 'It's fabulous, we should all have copies' Simon Mayo, Scala Radio 'A glorious love story, a spellbinding fable' Adele Parks

The Snow Song

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