#TheBoyMadeOfSnow #ChloeMayer #Review
THE BOY MADE OF SNOW
Chloe Mayer
The Boy Made of Snow is absolutely stunning. I cannot believe that this is Mayer's first novel, the prose is so beautiful, the characters are so well crafted and the storyline is so absorbing and heart wrenching. This is such a readable novel with a gripping premise and great plot, yet, as the cover suggests, beneath the snow there is so much more waiting to be uncovered. Mayer's exquisite use of language and subtle echo of fairy tales makes this a very special novel that is unforgettable, haunting and just down right exceptional. I love it. If there is one book you treat yourself to this Christmas, it has to be this one!
In a sleepy English village in 1944, Annabel and her nine-year-old son Daniel live in the shadow of war. With her husband away, an increasingly isolated Annabel begins to lose her grip on reality.
When mother and child befriend a German Prisoner of War consigned to a nearby farm, their lives are suddenly filled with thrilling secrets - although the PoW comes to mean very different things to each of them. To Annabel, he is an awakening from the darkness that has engulfed her since Daniel’s birth. To her son, a solitary boy caught up in the magical world of fairytales, he is perhaps a prince in disguise, one whose secret only he knows.
But Daniel often struggles to tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and a lie he tells one day leads to tragedy and murder; shattering the quiet of the village and destroying the lives of several people forever – including those he loves the most.
Will Daniel tell the truth? Or are some things better left buried deep in the woods? The distinction between deceit and storytelling can be paper thin, and Daniel is about to discover the potential for good and evil lives in everyone.
The Boy Made of Snow is inspired by the original story of The Snow Queen and each chapter of the novel starts with a quote from a well known fairy tale. I loved taking a moment at the start of each chapter to pause and think about the weight of the quote, it's significance from it's own story and also it's relevance to this novel. Although The Boy Made of Snow is set in 1944, the fairy tales are incredibly relevant to the action and characters and actually Mayer shows how relevant the quotes are to modern day life as well. Despite it's historical setting, the themes of people as monsters, complexities of forbidden love, prejudice, cruelty, illness and grief are universal. It's refreshing to consider these fairy stories that we have taken for granted or think we know so well, in a different light, and to consider their darkness, their cruelty, their threat rather than the glossy, glittery Disney versions we have become more familiar with. The Snow Queen is a powerful tale and the way Mayer has embedded it within her writing, scattered it throughout her pages and incorporated it into her characters is beyond impressive.
Annabel is a fascinating character. Alone, solitary, left in a small village just with her son Daniel while her husband is at war, she becomes intrigued by the German Prisoners of War who she comes across in the woods where they are staying, put to work by a local villager. Hans chops firewood which Annabel then buys from him. The parallels between Red Riding Hood are evident and clear but used to create suspense, tension and fear. Through these simple, individual lines that echo the fairy tale, Mayer can convey a huge range of emotions and suggest so much more that sometimes it is startling how much depth can be conveyed through the simplicity of her prose. The woods in itself is a powerful metaphor and not only does this setting help to build atmosphere and tension, it is also a place to hide secrets and a space to escape to where the rules can be different.
For Daniel, Annabel's young son, the woods are a place to explore, a place for adventures, a place that is dangerous and a place where monsters lurk. I loved Daniel's perception of the world and how as the novel continues, the reader - and Daniel - come to understand the links between what he imagines, what he sees and how he interprets this. The cruel and harsh reality of what he witnesses in the woods has devastating consequences for all the characters and again, the woods, the reference to monsters, the blur between reality and imagination, are used to enhance Daniel's transition and awakening from a naive and innocent child. Even though Daniel and Annabel live in a sleepy village, seemingly untouched by the day to day horrors of the Second World War, actually the consequences and effects of the war and how it changes their lives is far more harrowing and life affecting. Mayer explores the more psychological effects of war and more interestingly, issues of acceptance, difference, prejudice and hatred.
Although this is a serious novel with some very emotive passages and some traumatic scenes, the references to trolls, Hansel and Gretel, the play on names and identity does add a gentleness because of the sense of storytelling and hiding in the make believe. It does give the prose a rhythm and prevents it from becoming too overwhelmingly sad. The use of Daniel's perspective really helps as the reader can infer the reality of what he's unwittingly become part of and fit together the jigsaw from a slightly removed stand point.
What makes this novel so successful and so memorable is the balance between a great story and great writing. The concept is accessible and appealing. The Boy Made of Snow is about a mother and her son, it's about the arrival of prisoners of war in a village in 1944. It's about a village learning to accept the prisoners and family trying to survive the austerity of war. It's about motherhood, marriage, growing up, imagination and consequence. And it is also about evil, cruelty and psychological dilemmas. But the way in which Mayer controls this story, the way in which she has used language, images, metaphor, dialogue and description to bring it to life, is exceptional.
The Boy Made of Snow is impossible to forget. It is heartbreaking, emotive, haunting and quite simply stunning. For me, it is the perfect read. I loved that it was set in the woods, set in winter, and set in history as this immediately creates intrigue, threat and tension. The beautiful prose, the use of repetition, shadows, suggestions and fairy tales is so cleverly woven throughout the story that it is impossible to put down. I will be rereading, I will be recommending it to everyone and I will be looking out for anything Mayer writes next.
If you love Claire Fuller, Claire King, Carol Lovekin and Carys Bray then you must read this book!
The Boy Made of Snow is published by W&N on 2nd November and you can buy a copy here. Or if you live near Harpenden, there maybe some signed copies left in Harpenden Books so hurry hurry!
CHLOE MAYER
Chloë is obsessed with facts and fiction. She gets her facts fix by working as a freelance reporter for national newspapers, and her fiction fix by either reading or writing it in her spare time. Earlier in her career, her work as a journalist on regional titles saw her shortlisted for various awards, including newcomer of the year and reporter of the year. She went on to work as a news editor overseeing several newspapers before becoming a freelance journalist.
She has lived and worked in Tokyo and Los Angeles and decided to try her hand at fiction in the US, where the first short story she ever wrote beat more than 8,000 others to win a prize and publication in an anthology. She was so surprised and delighted she immediately began work on her first novel.
After spending much of her twenties living abroad, she returned home to the UK and now lives in east London, not far from where she grew up.
Definitely a book for me! Will have to ask Santa!
ReplyDeleteYou will! I hope he brings you a copy! You'll love it!
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