The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Some books remind you why you enjoy reading in the first place. The Snow Child is one of those books. The story is not a surprise - if you've ever heard the tale of the Snow Daughter then you know the arc that Ivey is retelling but this is hardly the point.

What Ivey masters is the sense of location and of person. Her characters, the older couple who lost a child in their youth and fled friends and family because of the insurmountable sense of public grief, are so well drawn I found myself moved by their broken hearts and their distance from one another. I've heard it said that relationships rarely survive the loss of a child and this feeling of unbearable loss made new every day by the presence of love is captured powerfully in her writing.

Add to this the power of an Alaska whose cold and remoteness come off the page and chill the room you're reading in and Ivey has created something special.

The cover and the blurb don't do credit to the writing and the story - they give it a twee feel that might seem more fitting for a book aimed squarely at chick lit. If you don't read it because of that then you're missing out.

Brilliant, moving and, ultimately, touchingly wonderful.