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Title: The Boy Made of Snow
Author: Chloe Mayer
Narrator: Joe Jameson
Format: Unabridged
Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
Language: English
Release date: 11-02-17
Publisher: Orion
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
In a sleepy English village in 1944, Annabel and her son, Daniel, live in the shadow of war. With her husband away, Annabel withdraws ever deeper into long-ago memories of happier times.
When mother and son befriend Hans, a German PoW consigned to a nearby farm, their lives are suddenly filled with thrilling secrets.
To Annabel, Hans 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 fairy tales, he is perhaps a prince in disguise or a mythical woodchopper.
But Hans has plans of his own and will soon set them into motion, with chilling consequences.
Read by Joe Jameson.
Members Reviews:
A breathtaking debut
THE BOY MADE OF SNOW by Chlo Mayer is a breathtaking, haunting, and heartbreaking story that will stay in your mind long after you turn the last page.
Set in wartime England we meet a young lad, Daniel, and his mother Annabel who are surviving together while Daniel's father is fighting in the war. Annabel has struggled with being a mother from the beginning and cannot show love or affection to Daniel who desperately craves it from her. Their only solid connection is the fairy tales that Annabel reads to him every night. But when a German Prisoner of War, Hans, arrives, fairytale and real life will become irreversibly intertwined with devastating consequences.
The characters in this story are very well-developed and the emotional elements of the plot are perfectly portrayed throughout. My heart broke for Annabel and Daniel as they were both suffering alone with no support. There were times while reading this story that I had a huge lump in my throat and I just had to stop reading for a few moments - this story is that powerful.
THE BOY MADE OF SNOW by Chlo Mayer is a stunning debut from this author and I wait with bated breath for what will come next from her. If you buy one book this Christmas, make it this one.
*I voluntarily reviewed this book from the Publisher
Great build up but doesn't sustain it
Not sure what to make of this one: it's very readable but I got increasingly irritated by it as it went on. It's one of those books that peaks at the end of Act 2 and then the final Act is just mopping up the pieces, explaining plotpoints and telling you how they lived after that.
Set in 1944, it's about nine year old Daniel and his mother Annabel who live in a quiet English village. His father has been away fighting in the War for over three years. Annabel is very detached from her son; it appears she is still suffering from post natal depression. The one significant interaction in their day is when she reads him fairy stories at night and so he views the world through a fairy tale lens. When German POWs are consigned to their village, both mother and son will become friends with one of them, Hans. To Annabel, Hans represents her first opportunity for happiness in a long, long time. But she doesn't understand how Daniel sees the world and what he will think the right thing to do is.
The first half of the book in particularly has a creeping menace to it. We feel Annabel's depression and we see Daniel's erroneous interpretation of events and there is a sense that things will turn pear-shaped. However the eventual outcome and the protracted third Act fail to live up to the promise of the first half.
