Product Description

A lost notebook is discovered, its pages filled with an array of entries about snow. Leafing through each item in turn, it becomes apparent that the selection is not as haphazard as first glances might suggest. Scientific description, historical accounts and fantastical incidents slowly, teasingly unfold to reveal a series of love-stories, at the heart of which is one particular story – a story that twists and threads through the various excerpts and extracts to form a letter to an absent lover.

'Glints with myth and magic . . . bold and exhilarating' Observer

‘All the delicacy of an intricate piece of ice sculpture . . . The effect of the different entries swirling and spiraling is kaleidoscopic’ Sunday Telegraph

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #681574 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 270 pages

About the Author

Sarah Emily Miano was born in Buffalo NY. Former pastry chef, private eye and tour-bus driver, she has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Her fiction has been seen in PEMBROKE MAGAZINE and PAPER, SCISSORS, STONE. This is her first novel.

Customer Reviews

Unmissable
A notebook is discovered in an abandoned car after a blizzard and found to contain an encyclopaedic collection of articles about snow. Extracts range from historical accounts and scientific definitions, to tales of growing up and family relationships, all somehow linked to the themes of snow, ice and winter. At the heart of the book is the touching tale of two lovers known only as Moth and Butterfly. Theirs is a love as pure and all encompassing as the snow itself, but one which must ultimately give away for a new season of life to begin.

From its beautiful translucent cover decorated with snowflakes, to the very last extract, this is a true work of art and an utterly original novel. It can be read from beginning to end, or dipped into like a book of poems, following the intertwining threads as they build up into a rich and complex narrative. Its circular form effortlessly links science and art, devotion and despair and will leave you desperate for more while still only half way through.

An amazing debut novel, this is a fascinating and deeply absorbing book, perfect to curl up with on those long winter evenings ahead.

a pleasing mix of art and science
From the design of the hardcover edition - a translucent dustjacket decorated with snowflakes - to the alphabetical references, this novel is a treat of modernist minimalism.

It takes the form of a mystery and can be read anyway you want. You can start at the beginning and read until the end or you can pick a reference at random and follow the trail it sets out, creating a compelling and, pleasantly, confusing mix of anecdotes, stories and scientific analysis.

The whole thing builds itself like a snowflake and references to snowflakes and crystals highlight the form and style. It is a circular narrative, repeating the same themes of opposites - dark and light, hot and cold, summer and winter - throughout.

It is a compelling read which can be picked up and skimmed through, like a book of poems. It also shows that writing is art and art and science are not that far apart.

beautiful
A beautiful looking book, with even more beautiful content.

The stories seem at first unrelated, except for the theme of snow. As you meander through though you begin to recognise patterns and correlations, and tie it all together.

Buy this and curl up with it on a cold day