""Mad and wonderful. I thought I was reading one thing, then discoveredâseveral timesâthat I was reading a different, even better thing.ââRoddy Doyle
âSnowflake is a wonderfully inventive, deeply felt novel full of the best kinds of surprises.ââMargot Livesey
An exquisitely talented young Irish writer makes her literary debut with this powerful and haunting novelâa tale of love and family, depression and joy, and coming of age in the twenty-first century.
Eighteen-year-old Debbie was raised on her familyâs rural dairy farm, forty minutes and a world away from Dublin. She lives with her mother, Maeve, a skittish woman who takes to her bed for days on end, claims not to know who Debbieâs father is, and believes her dreams are prophecies. Rounding out their small family is Maeveâs brother Billy, who lives in a caravan behind their house, drinks too much, and likes to impersonate famous dead writers online. Though they may have their quirks, the Whitesâ fierce love for one another is never in doubt.
But Debbieâs life is changing. Earning a place at Trinity College Dublin, she commutes to her classes a few days a week. Outside the sheltered bubble of her childhood for the first time, Debbie finds herself both overwhelmed and disappointed by her fellow students and the pace and anonymity of city life. While the familiarity of the farm offers comfort, Debbie still finds herself pulling away from it. Yet just as she begins to ponder the possibilities the future holds, a resurgence of strange dreams raises her fears that she may share Maeveâs fate. Then a tragic accident upends the familyâs equilibrium, and Debbie discovers her next steps may no longer be hers to choose.
Gorgeous and beautifully wrought, Snowflake is an affecting coming-of-age story about a young woman learning to navigate a world that constantly challenges her sense of self.