Snow in the sky by Gina Inverarity
Snow in the sky, the sequel to Snow, is a whimsical delight with very deep and serious themes. The book contains multiple layers that cleverly integrate olden-day fairy tale with futuristic dystopian fantasy, of geographical and scientific knowledge and at the core - deep concern for people, animals and the environment. The reader is transported into another world which is post-apocalyptic - perhaps a world returned to a medieval state because of the return to archaic English speech, harsh life, castles and forests, but at the same time a disturbing world of the future with the climate possibly irrevocably changed.
New Zealand-based author Gina Inverarity must be drawing on the mountainous, snow covered parts of New Zealand as inspiration. Setting is crucial. It is the time of "the clouding over". There is no distinction between land and sky. The sun and stars are never seen. Snow, our heroine, is also known as "the little queen". She, like Snow White in the Grimm's fairytale, was cast out by her stepmother and rescued by "the hunter". Snow in the sky sees Snow returned to the castle as a young and courageous leader of her people living in the castle (mountain chateau) with the hunter and little bear who she had befriended in the forest and trying to accomodate streams of people escaping the barren frozen land and seeking refuge in the chateau. The people want Snow to lift the clouds again as they thought she had done before. The adventure begins when a stranger arrives from another world. Huge reserves of courage and love must be drawn upon as the adventurers have to band together and attempt to fly above the clouding over to bring sunshine back to the land. Inverarity weaves a great story, in the vein of all great stories and as Catherine Norton says, pulls "...a thread from a great tapestry of storytelling and" uses it "...as the warp for weaving something entirely new". It's a fairytale with wonderful and warm characters who you really care about, who face the extremities of survival and who go to the edge of their strength and resourcefulness to save each other. There's also the finding of identity and romance.
Adelaide-based Wakefield Press have published Snow and Snow in the sky beautifully. Barossa-based Sam Cowley has illustrated the eye-catching covers for both books. Striking black and white sketches evoking the whimsical, fairytale quality of the stories are distinctive on library shelves. The soft blotching of the papers gives an aged effect and the little bear image at the end of each chapter adds to reading pleasure.
Snow in the sky is a highly recommended, scary and delightful, cautionary but hopeful modern day fairy tale. It is recommended that, to enhance the reading, the reader revisit the original Grimm's fairy tale "Snow White" (not confusing this story with "Snow-White and RoseRed") and definitely not reading a Disney version!
Themes: Environmental refugees, Dystopian future, Friendship, Fairytales, Adventure, Romance.
Wendy Jeffrey