A review by bibliokyra
The Snow Collectors, by Tina May Hall
4.0
After losing her parents and twin sister to the raging sea, Henna moves to an isolated, snow-laden Arctic village. Still grieving, Henna retreats inward with her sister’s basset hound as her only companion. She spends her time writing ice and water-related encyclopedia entries for a publisher. Henna’s quietude comes to an end when a dead woman’s body shows up on her property.
The woman is clutching the fragment of an ancient letter written by Lady Jane, the wife of famous Arctic-explorer, Captain John Franklin. Consumed by the mystery of the woman’s death and the contents of the letter, Henna is thrust into the enigma surrounding snow collectors and the doomed Franklin expedition which vanished in 1845. On her quest for answers, Henna is introduced to an eccentric cast of characters and led through crumbling mansions and towers throughout the icy village.
The story is set in a near-future Alaskan setting where birds and bees are endangered and glaciers have disappeared. The passages are short, alternating between Henna’s past, Jane Franklin’s search for her husband and the mystery of the dead body. Henna is an unreliable narrator which contributes to the eerie feel of the story. With gorgeous prose, Hall weaves together a vivid, icy landscape, magical elements and nineteenth-century history to transport you into this atmospheric, gothic mystery.
The woman is clutching the fragment of an ancient letter written by Lady Jane, the wife of famous Arctic-explorer, Captain John Franklin. Consumed by the mystery of the woman’s death and the contents of the letter, Henna is thrust into the enigma surrounding snow collectors and the doomed Franklin expedition which vanished in 1845. On her quest for answers, Henna is introduced to an eccentric cast of characters and led through crumbling mansions and towers throughout the icy village.
The story is set in a near-future Alaskan setting where birds and bees are endangered and glaciers have disappeared. The passages are short, alternating between Henna’s past, Jane Franklin’s search for her husband and the mystery of the dead body. Henna is an unreliable narrator which contributes to the eerie feel of the story. With gorgeous prose, Hall weaves together a vivid, icy landscape, magical elements and nineteenth-century history to transport you into this atmospheric, gothic mystery.