Ivey, Eowyn

"In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads a small band of men on an expedition that has been deemed impossible: to venture up the Wolverine River and pierce the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly pregnant wife, Colonel Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will reach her if he doesn't return, once he passes behond the edge of the know world, there's no telling what awaits him."--Dust jacket.

"Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone -- but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees." -- Provided by publisher.

Homesteaders Jack and Mabel struggle to survive in the harsh Alaskan wilderness, but the couple's quiet life of hard work and routine suddenly changes when a small girl named Faina magically appears on their doorstep.