Light on Snow

'I watched my father run forward in his snowshoes the way one sometimes does in dreams, unable to make the legs move fast enough. I ran to the place where he knelt. I looked down into the sleeping bag. A tiny face gazed up at me, the eyes wide despite their many folds. The baby was wrapped in a bloody towel, and its lips were blue.'The events of a December afternoon on which a father and his daughter find an abandoned infant in the snow will forever alter eleven-year-old Nicky Dillon's understanding of the world which she is about to enter and the adults who inhabit it: a father who has taken great pains to remove himself from society in order to put behind him an unthinkable tragedy; a young woman who must live with the consequences of the terrible choices she has made; and a detective whose cleverness is superseded only by his sense of justice.Written from the point of view of thirty-year-old Nicky as she recalls the vivid images of that fateful December, hers is a tale of love and courage, of tragedy and redemption, and of the ways in which the human heart always seeks to heal itself. "Anita Shreve is by far one of the finest novelists of her time. One cannot help but compare this fine contemporary author with the likes of literary giant Edith Wharton."  Boston Herald"To create both sympathetic characters and an enticing plot is no small feat, but Shreve does this seamlessly."  Orlando Sentinel"Shreve's ability to build dramatic tension is remarkable."  Baltimore Sun"Few other contemporary novelists weave past and present so skillfully, capturing the seamless texture of time."  Newsday"Her secret is that she simply has the Gift—the ability to hook you from the first page, draw you in and pull you along, though you may kick and scream, and not let go until the final word."  Washington Post Book World"A gem of a book."  Telegraph"The crystalline prose and vivid characters make this another Shreve success."  LIFE