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Light on Snow
Light on Snow
Author: Anita Shreve
Already taking its place alongside The Pilot's Wife and The Last Time They Met as one of Anita Shreve's most widely popular and bestselling novels, LIGHT ON SNOW recounts the aftermath of a startling discovery: a 12-year-old girl and her widowed father find an abandoned baby in the snow-filled woods near their home. Writing with all the emotiona...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780316010672
ISBN-10: 0316010677
Publication Date: 9/12/2005
Pages: 336
Rating:
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 558

3.7 stars, based on 558 ratings
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

debs avatar reviewed Light on Snow on + 649 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 11
This book gripped me from the very first page. I started in the morning, took a few breaks for lunch and dinner and couldn't put it down until I was finished. The story is told from the viewpoint of a 12 year old girl; it's authentic and has such truth to it that you can't help but be immersed in her life, dreams, worries, and thoughts. Loved this book!
reviewed Light on Snow on + 45 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10
Shreve's writing is crisp, compelling and evocative, as always ~ her story engrossing. I found it difficult to put this one down, especially as I got to the sections dealing with what lead to the baby's abandonment. Shreve writes of grief and hope with undeniable skill.
mountainreader avatar reviewed Light on Snow on + 113 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 9
a mesmerizing story of the secrets we keep and the secrets we unearth, and the power of forgiveness to mend even the most battered souls. A wonderful novel to read in the winter months! I loved this book!
Leigh avatar reviewed Light on Snow on + 378 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 9
There's no doubt the writing in this novel was powerful and conveyed a lot in very little time, but there almost seemed to be nothing to the book. Aside from being predictable, the story was told in first-person, present tense, which is irritating, considering the narrator tells us she's 30 years old as she's relaying this.

The main character is a very believable 12-year old, but she annoyed me with her constant questioning and second-guessing herself and others. The events in the story are realistic and depict a situation that is plausible and could really happen.

I'm not impressed enough to read more of this author, and I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone but Shreve fans.
reviewed Light on Snow on + 14 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
A father and daughter go walking in the woods just before Christmas and find a newborn wrapped in a sleeping bag. One of Shreve's best, this book deals with love, loss, and family responsibility.
Read All 175 Book Reviews of "Light on Snow"

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Melody1959 avatar reviewed Light on Snow on + 62 more book reviews
I enjoyed this book.It was a little slow in the middle but really grabbed me and kept my interest right to the end.
nannybebette avatar reviewed Light on Snow on + 23 more book reviews
After Nicky loses her mother and baby sister in a tragic automobile accident, she and her father move to an isolated community in New Hampshire. He gives up his career as an architect and begins to make Shaker-style wooden furniture for a living. His grief practically paralyzed him and he has withdrawn into himself. More and more Nicky must be the adult one in the remaining family.

One day after school Nicky and her father went for a walk through the snowy woods on their property. Nicky thinks that she hears a baby crying but finds that implausible until suddenly her father hears the same thing. They trek toward the sound on their snowshoes and all at once see a 'light on snow' which turns out to be a newborn baby wrapped in a bloody towel and slipped inside a sleeping bag. Nicky's father scoops up the freezing baby and they hurriedly get back to the house and into their truck and head out over the icy roads to the hospital.

Nicky wants to keep the baby and has trouble understanding when her father says no, that they must get it to the hospital and let the authorities take care of matters.

Soon a bedraggled young woman shows up at their house pretending to be shopping for furniture for her parents' Christmas gift. But Nicky and her father both figure out that the girl has seen the papers and found out that this family is the one that found her baby. The girl has not yet recovered from the birth and does not have the strength to leave so they take her in 'just until she is fit' to go.

The characters in this story are interesting and I can see how someone in both Nicky and her father's situation might react as they did...........up until they took the birth mother in. But the book was interesting and Anita Shreve always spins a good tale.
reviewed Light on Snow on
I really liked this book. It's about a man and his daughter trying to heal from the loss of his wife and her mother. In the middle of a snow storm the daughter finds an abandoned baby wrapped up in a flannel shirt lying in the snow. They take it in, but do to the circumstances (weather) they can't turn it over to the authorities. Soon they become attached. But what will they do when the mother of the child shows up . . .
reviewed Light on Snow on + 5 more book reviews
The BEST Anita Shreve book and right up there with one of my all time favorite books. Very different and unexpected story line and keeps you wishing you were in the book as a character to help solve the puzzle.
Robin1 avatar reviewed Light on Snow on + 26 more book reviews
Interesting story about finding an abandoned baby and the relationship between a widower and his young daughter. Good, couldn't put it down and a quick read.
woodess avatar reviewed Light on Snow on + 3 more book reviews
This is a very good book. I couldn't put it down. This author makes you feel as if you are in the same room with them.
reviewed Light on Snow on + 7 more book reviews
I liked this book I thought it was pretty good I think most would enjoy it.
reviewed Light on Snow on + 4 more book reviews
Excellent. One of her best.
reviewed Light on Snow on + 4 more book reviews
Wonderfully written, unique perspective, page turner...
reviewed Light on Snow on + 70 more book reviews
Great story. Well written. Dramatic tension throughout. Excellent characters.
reviewed Light on Snow on
another great tale from Anita. you really conjure up the characters and see the story as it unfolds.
easy light reading.
reviewed Light on Snow on + 32 more book reviews
I have only read a few by Anita Shreve, she is becoming one of my new favorite authors
MrsCatD avatar reviewed Light on Snow on + 82 more book reviews
Awesome book! Great story for all ages!
reviewed Light on Snow on + 9 more book reviews
By the author of the Pilots wife. Very Compeling.
reviewed Light on Snow on + 33 more book reviews
Quick read - nice story but sad because of baby being abandoned
reviewed Light on Snow on + 148 more book reviews
Newborn found in the frozen country side.....left for dead? What happened to the birth mother?


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