The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

      Mabel and Jack move to a homestead in Alaska to escape their sorrow at not being able to have a child of their own.  There, in the first snowfall of winter, they build a child from snow.  "...Jack had etched her lips and eyes.  Mabel had given her mittens and reddened her lips.  That night the child was born to them of ice and snow and longing."  But in the morning their snow child is gone.  That same day they glimpse a little girl running through the woods.
      Her name is Faina.  Jack has reason to believe that she is a real child, reasons he can't tell Mabel; Mabel is sure she is born from magic, like the snow child from her favorite Russian fairy tale.  Their nearest neighbors are sure Faina is a figment of Jack's and Mabel's feverish imaginations.  What's the truth?  And what will happen to Faina when the winter snow melts?
      The Snow Child reminded me of all the fairy tales I read and loved as a child. Eowyn Ivey does a masterful job translating this Russian fairy tale into a grown-up novel of love and magic.  I really like the way she writes. This book was a treat to read.