Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

 

What this book is about:  Birdie, a young single mother, and her six-year-old daughter, Emaleen, who live in Alaska. Birdie yearns for freedom and flight and wild places. And Arthur Nielsen, a quiet, scarred recluse who lives in an isolated cabin in the mountains beyond Wolverine River. He and Birdie fall in love and for awhile the three of them are happy living together far away from everyone else, exploring the wilderness, picking berries, catching salmon. But Arthur has a secret--a side of himself that isn't so tame. And it threatens their fairy tale ending.

My thoughts:  I loved Ivey's fairy tale-inspired novel, The Snow Child. She has a way of evoking a sense of wonder with her lyrical prose while at the same time creating a setting so real you can practically smell the wildflowers. And she's done it again with this novel. I loved the richly drawn Alaskan wilderness setting, and I loved Arthur and Emaleen and their cute interactions, too. But like many a Grimm fairy tale, I sensed early on I might not get my hoped for happy ending in this one. Because this book is sad. Which didn't make me like it any less, though it did break my heart just a little. I wanted more for Arthur, Birdie and Emaleen. But I still love the way Ivey writes.

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

The Child Finder

"This is something I know:  no matter how far you have run, no matter how long you have been lost, it is never too late to be found."

Her name is Naomi.  She has a gift for finding lost children.  Maybe because she knows what it's like to be lost herself. Her case this time involves a girl named Madison Culver who went missing three years ago in Oregon's Skookum National Forest in the middle of a snowstorm. She'd be eight now...if she's survived. To find her, Naomi must start from scratch.

"Naomi always began by learning to love the world where the child went missing. It was like carefully unraveling a twisted ball of yarn. A bus stop that led to a driver that led to a basement room, carefully carpeted in soundproofing. A ditch in full flood that led to a river, where sadness awaited on the shore ... Each missing place was a portal."

Then there's Madison. Only she's not Madison any more. To stay alive she's had to become something else...someone else.

"The snow girl could remember the day she was born. In brilliant snow she had been created--two tired arms out, like an angel--and her creator was there. His face was a halo of light. ... When she woke it was dark, like the inside of a cave. Snow was falling outside. She couldn't see it, but she could feel it. It's funny how you can hear something as soft as falling snow."

I loved this book. It's a mystery that reads almost like a fairy tale. Naomi is such a luminous character. And I loved the way the author, Rene Denfeld, interweaves Madison's narrative with the Snow Girl tale. In many ways, this book reminded me a lot of Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child, even though they are two very different stories. Each is magical. And Denfeld's writing is amazing. After two disappointing reads in a row, this novel was a breath of snow-fresh air. I hope Denfeld writes many more just like it.

Happy Reading!