This book was more enjoyable than any of the books I read in 2012 – partially due to timing as the story is set in the Winter and revolves around the emotions that having a child can produce. A middle-aged couple moves to desolate Alaskan farmland in the 1920s, escaping their relatives and the pain associated with the death of their only newborn child. It is here in the solitude and harshness of the wilderness that they encounter a mystical little girl that seemingly is born out of the snow. The wilderness is described with clarity and power and is really a character in the book. Two-thirds of the book is very successful at straddling the line between magical fairytale and a more realistic view of what could be happening to explain the little girl’s existence. As the tale unfolds and picks up speed in the final third of the book, the feeling and mystery of the story falls apart just a bit, but was still adequately concluded.