Snow Island

A dazzling debut, Snow Island follows the dual stories of Alice Daggett and George Tibbits in a small isolated island populated by quahoggers and eccentrics during the Second World War. Towler weaves the two plot lines intricately, at the same time subtly relaying the nuances of the island's inhabitants through gossip and tales. Sixteen-year old Alice Daggett, haunted by the tragic death of her father six years prior and the overbearing presence of her mother Evelyn, never quite fits into the strict societal rules of the small gossiping town. Her awkwardness as she becomes aware of her own sexuality-her fear of not understanding her role as a woman and her fear of her inability to fulfill it-is beautifully told. Snow Island also unravels the unique story of George Tibbits, a recluse in his forties, who returns to the island each year in order to gain some closure regarding the death of the two women who raised him. Snow Island is an evocative work with characters carefully chosen and crafted. Moving and luminous, it breaks the clichés of war novels. The characters and their stories resonate and linger long after the last page.

Snow Island, by Katherine Towler, is a lovingly rendered novel about place, about childhood, and about the power of memory. It asks the reader the following question: "What is more powerful -- the need to remember? or the need to forget? Snow Island is a small island located off the coast of Rhode Island. The men of Snow Island engage in the dangerous business of quahogging, while their families eke out a living running small businesses that depend on the wealthier summer residents for survival. In 1941, Alice Daggett is a sixteen-year old, living on the island. She attends school in a one-room schoolhouse with twins Lydia and Pete Giberson -- the only other children her age on the island. Since the death of her father five years earlier, Alice also shoulders the responsibility of keeping the family store running. George Tibbit is a recluse in his forties and the owner of the island's twin houses. He returns to Snow Island each year in an excessive act of homage to the two women -- his aunts -- who raised him. When George left to serve in World War I he spent a day saying good-by to all the places he loved best. Now he returns each summer hoping perhaps that he might "meet himself there once again -- a teenaged boy running over the rocks and down to the water, plunging in." As the isolated island community is drawn into war again, the lives of George and Alice and the island people are altered dramatically as they face the consequences of loss and the choices made for love. "Alice supposed George Tibbits was crazy, and his aunts before him, but she thought she knew what made them crazy -- people like Lydia and the rest of the islanders. Sarah and Bertie Tibbits were just trying to live the way they wanted, as George was now, but that wasn't good enough for the islanders. No. you had to attend the chicken suppers and stop by the store for the latest gossip and behave just like everyone else." Even though both George and Alice are forced to leave the island, they both find they cannot escape from the hold Snow Island has on them. The island resides within them and pulls them back time and again. It is only by leaving, however, that they see how inextricably bound they are to Snow Island -- this first place -- the home of their child hoods. Thomas Wolfe tells us we can't go home again. He was as much right as he was wrong. You can return; you can go home, not as the "you" of your childhood but as the person you have become. You can return to that first place where all will be same even as it is all so very different. That first place knew you when and it can know you again. It is up to you to choose whether you want to remember or whether you want to forget. Snow Island by Katherine Towler is the story of how George Tibbit and Alice Daggett come to know the truth about the place of childhood and how they both choose to remember.

16 year old Alice lives on a small island in the 1940s with her mom and little brother. Her father died when she was 11 and a loneliness has lingered with her ever since. She's more mature than her best friend and relates to older people on the island.In particular, she is similar to George, who lost his aunt to suicide decades before, when she mistakenly thought he died in the world war 1. In this time of war and tragedy, the loneliness only grows in these two characters who come to have a special connection to each other, even though they barely interact.This novel started off slow but before I knew it I was hooked. The story came to life through it's honest execution and three-dimensional characters. The pacing was natural and the situations were believable. Alice seemed so real to me and I miss her now that the book has ended. I felt like I completely understood her. Alice is very wise for her age, yet still innocent. I cannot wait until Volume 2 and 3 come out and I hope to see Alice in both novels (Volume 2 is to take place in the 1960s and Volume 3 in the 1980s on Snow Island). Katherine Towler has an impressive talent with words and strong character development. Her debut novel stands out as one of the greatest novels I have ever had the pleasure to read. I highly recommend!

I'm an English professor with a particular interest in contemporary women's fiction. I finished Snow Island a couple of weeks ago and find I remain haunted by the characters and the place. Towler makes an obscure New England island and its inhabitants come thoroughly alive in a lyrical, sensitive narrative that pulled me in and hasn't yet let go. Her rendering of the impact of WWII on local life is extremely compelling. I am still mourning the characters who don't survive and hoping for a sequel that will follow those who do into the post-WWII years. I've read dozens of women's coming-of-age novels and this one is a stand-out, in part because its rendering of a teenage girl is complemented by its focus on an intriguing adult male character, in part because of the skill with which Towler develops the setting. This is an exceptionally well crafted first novel.

I just put Snow Island down. The author's debut is wonderful. I professionally review books for a newspaper and constantly read hyperbole about debut novels being the greatest thing since....Snow Island delivers. With convincing characters, a wonderful sense of place, I found myself wanting to retreat to an island just like it. Bravo Ms. Towler, I look forward to your next!