Where Snow Angels Go: From the author of the number one bestseller Hamnet

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bár a könyv a gyerekek kimondatlan félelmeiről szól, megnyugtató válaszokat is ad ezekre. A bűbájos rajzokkal és hangulatos szöveggel pedig tökéletes téli olvasmány: megeleveníti a havat. S ha van rá alkalom, olvasása után biztos mindenki örömmel készíti el a saját hóangyalát.

In your memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am , you talk about your childhood stammer. Do you get nervous speaking in public?I was very like Sophie [in the book], a child who liked to take risks and the book does have elements of my childhood in it. Most obviously, she has a long illness [at the age of eight, O’Farrell missed a year’s school with encephalitis]. There are also elements of all three of my children woven in it. In all fiction there are bits you make up and bits you borrow from your own life and the lives of those around you.

This is such a fun and magical story about angels and what happens to the ones you create in the snow. Sylvie wakes up one might to find someone in her room. The someone isn’t quite sure what they are supposed to do but Sylvie spots that it’s an angel standing in her room. Sylvie soon finds out that this angel is the same one she made out of snow one day, but he’s here for an important reason, because Sylvie isn’t well and the snow angel has come to save her. It’s an interesting subject because it’s a painful subject. Losing a child is one of the most visceral fears for parents, isn’t it? I’ve always been really interested in Hamnet and why he’s so overlooked and forgotten by history.

Where Snow Angels Go is a children’s book by award-winning author and this year’s Waterstone Book of the Year winner with her Novel Hamnet, Maggie O’Farell. I haven’t read her work before, although I did try to buy Hamnet from a book shop yesterday but they had sold out. After reading this book I will make sure I manage to get a copy as her story-telling skills and imagination are breathtaking. Resources/Activities: Winter is here, a time of adventure for children. After the next snow, go outside with your children and make your own snow angels. Take pictures of your snow angels. You may even want to draw pictures. There’s a lot less you have to explain. If I go into Will’s study and he says: “I’m working. I can’t talk”, I don’t take offence. Plus, we are always each other’s first readers. He said about one of my books: “Well, it’s not bad, you have to rewrite half of it.” That was a bit of a blow. He was right – that was annoying. Using line, color washes, and arresting perspectives, the illustrations in this lengthy picture book deftly convey the realism of Sylvie’s world, the wonder of her snow angel, and the sweetness of their bond in scenes of drama as well as stillness. . . . An appealing contemporary fairy tale told with humor and warmth. I listened to this lovely audiobook this morning, a book I’d only noticed yesterday was written by Maggie O’Farrell, narrated by Ruth Negga, with illustrations by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini. This is O’Farrell’s debut into the children’s book genre.

In her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am, Maggie O’Farrell writes about the close encounters with death that have defined her life, including a period spent in hospital as a child, gravely ill with encephalitis. "Nearly losing my life at the age of eight made me sanguine – perhaps to a fault – about death," she explains. "I knew it would happen, at some point, and the idea didn’t scare me; its proximity felt instead almost familiar." One night, a young girl named Sylvie awakens to find a glimmering presence with wings in her room. The snow angel she had made the previous winter has returned. Every snow angel made by someone becomes their real angel who will look after and protect their creator. He has arrived in response to a need he has sensed in her, but he is also surprised by her ability to see him as it violates all the rules. Realizing that she is suffering from a fever, the angel awakens the mother, disappearing before she can see him. Sylvie’s illness lingers for months, but in those months she never forgets that the snow angel was there, and tries to summon his return. SNOW ANGELS does a great job at depicting lives in such communities. Especially during that part of the year when the landscape is barren and suicides spike. The profound sense of hopelessness is evident in many of the characters. Those without resources fall into profound despair. Those better off look into themselves. The result is always tragic or counter-productive. Only youth sees promise, has hope, etc. The underlying novel and this film stole my planned novel! I live in Northeast Pennsylvania (the film is set in Southwest PA). I'm one of those who threaten, promise, etc., to write a book someday but probably never will. But my main idea was to write about one of the ancient defunct communities that dot the old coal and oil regions of the state.

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A little over a year ago I had a traumatic experience. I don’t love to throw that word around lightly, so I understand the weight it holds. My last week in Jersey, I texted Alexander that I wanted to write about it when I got home. Maggie O’Farrell’s is a modern fable/fairy tale that will fill kids with wonder. It is a cozy bedtime read aloud that reminds me a bit of the books that were read to me as a child. The narrative is a bit lengthy, but lends itself to the author’s beautiful lyrical prose. I love that the story began with a bedtime story she made up for her own children. Where Snow Angels Go will lead to many meaningful discussions. It’s been quite a year for you - Hamnet winning the Women’s prize and being named Waterstones’ book of the year…