Light on Snow

by Anita Shreve
loaned by Melanie Wegner paperback 305 pages
genre: realistic fiction

A grieving widower and his 12-year-old daughter find an abandoned newborn on a snowy day. Saving the baby's life is meaningful for the girl who lost her mother and one-year-old sister a few years earlier. This book had a lot of potential and some lovely writing, but fell short for me.

page 114 - loved the scene where Nicky describes her love for knitting resonated for me (though I don't knit). "It's addictive and it's soothing, and for a few minutes anyway, it makes me feel closer to my mother." This made me think of some of my friends who are knitters and have trouble *not* knitting!

page 218 - Nicky is thinking of her little sister. "The idea of giving up a baby - never mind leaving it to die - is incomprehensible to me. I can't imagine it. Wouldn't it just hurt your whole life, just like losing Clara always hurts me even if I don't think about it every second? It's why I've had to create the idea of Clara still growing, still alive. It's where I send my thoughts whenever I start to think about her."

page 268 - When Nicky gets her period and wants her dad to know but doesn't want to tell him. "I hope it doesn't make him sad, sad for my mother who is not here to see me reach this milestone. I have had enough sadness to last a lifetime."

I'm not sure why Melanie wanted me to borrow and read her books (or why I felt obligated to follow through with it) but I'm ready to return them to her and move on to some of my other books!