A quietly charged tale
Tulip Chowdhury goes through a family's travails
Light on Snow, Anita Shreve, Little, Brown and Company
Human life can turn tragic corners without any notice and yet leave traces on the cycle of eternity, leave stigma that refuses to go away. Nicky Dillon and her father stumble upon a new born baby left in the snow in the woods. They take the baby to the nearby hospital and save the infant. However, the hospital authority notifies the police and the inquiries begin. From this moment Nicky and her father's lives change and overnight they become the hot news of New Hampshire, the place where they live. Nicky is just twelve years old. Her mother and her little sister died two years back. She and her father leave their home in New York thinking that it will help them overcome the grief. They find their new home in New Hampshire. But Nicky realizes that she cannot at all forget her mother or her baby sister Clara even for a moment. In every nook and corner of their new home her mother and her sister seem to be breathing and her mother seems to be talking to her all the while. However, Nicky, for the sake of her father, hardly talks about it at all. And then when they find the baby there come so many new hurdles, so many suspicious queries that Nicky and her father find it quite impossible to go on with their normal lives. Then one day life turns another new corner when Charlotte, the abandoned baby's mother, turns up on their doorstep. Charlotte has read the news about the discovery of her baby in the newspaper and knows that her baby girl is alive. She has come to thank Nicky's father for saving her baby. But that very night they are snowed in and Charlotte is stuck at Nicky's house. Nicky and her father soon find out that Charlotte did not leave her baby in the snow. It was her boyfriend who had done the horrible deed. Meanwhile, Warren, the local sheriff, drops in. Nicky has a hard time hiding Charlotte. She knows that both her father and she become Charlotte's accomplices by giving her shelter. Although it is risky to keep Charlotte, Nicky has grown fond of her. The nineteen-year old young mother is a very soft and a gentle person. Fate has dealt her a cruel blow when her boyfriend refuses to accept their baby. Nicky does not want Charlotte to go away. She thinks that God has set their fate on saving the baby when He takes away Clare. She feels a moral obligation towards the mother of the baby they have saved. But Nicky's father is firm that when the snow is cleared Charlotte must leave their house. He hardly talks with her and retains a distance from the young, troubled mother. Nicky is upset but has to let go of Charlotte when the snow is cleared. However, Warren has been on the lookout and the moment Charlotte is out in her own car he has her arrested. Nicky persuades her father to go to the police. At the police station they have to clarify their position first for helping out Charlotte. But the attempted murder case against Charlotte is not so easy to clear up nor do Nicky and her father find it easy to clear their own names from the case. However, Nicky is determined to have Charlotte 's story of her boy friend told and the young woman released from the custody of the police. At Nicky's insistence Warren finally goes after Charlotte's boyfriend and Charlotte is released. Nicky often wonders what it means to be a happy family. She tells her father that they can adopt the baby they have saved. She learns that Charlotte's baby will never be given back to her. The baby finds a foster home. One day Warren takes Nicky and her father to the foster home and Nicky sees that the baby is very well cared for. She feels happy knowing that maybe the baby will have a happy family after all. Nicky and her father go back to their home and settle down. Charlotte is taken home by her brother. In the meantime, Nicky has her first menstruation and in the midst of the storm blowing over them she seems to have become a young lady. She is thirteen by this time. She misses her mother and her baby sister all the time but she learns that life can be topsy-turvy. She settles into the path of becoming an adult. Her father's attitude changes towards her. He treats her like a young lady and they have a heart to heart talk about growing up. Nicky knows that the road ahead may still be very bumpy indeed! The discovery of the baby has added one memorable chapter to her life and she gets ready for many more. Light on Snow is an intimate, quietly charged novel. It is a close up portrait of a loving father and daughter caught together in their grief and separated by a gulf of unspoken emotions. It is a story that draws in the reader and fosters a strong sympathy for all involved. The story, told in first person narration is diverting and pleasurable and touches the very deepest of human emotions. The plot is captivating and engrosses the reader's mind. In the writer's mastery of words, the smallest moments are rendered with exquisite stylistic care. A must read for readers who are on the lookout for some sublime hours of reading! Tulip Chowdhury is a writer and regularly reviews books.
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