Snow: A Novel - Hardcover

Maxence Fermine is the author of Snow, The Bee Keeper, and Opium. His novel, The Black Violin, is forthcoming from Atria Books. He lives in France.

Fermine meditates on poetry, love and art in this elegant love story-cum-parable set in Japan in the late 19th century. Delicate, sensitive Yuko Akita informs his father that he wishes to become a poet so that he can "learn to watch the passing of time." Despite his father's skepticism, Akita is soon writing beautiful haiku based on his obsession with snow. Seeking to help advance the boy's career, his father invites the imperial court poet to evaluate Yuko's work; after acknowledging the boy's talent, the poet tells Akita that he needs to study other art forms. Akita embarks on a journey to study with master artist Soseki; along the way he comes upon a strikingly beautiful European woman frozen into a massive chunk of ice. The elderly Soseki begins teaching Akita, and the narrative shifts to focus on the older artist, a former samurai who left the military after being wounded and married a beautiful French tightrope walker named Snow. The happy couple had a daughter, but after raising the girl Snow grew restless. She went back to tightrope walking, and died in an accident while performing. Fermine's pristine prose shimmers in English translation, and the deceptively simple story flows smoothly. The final twist involving Akita and Snow's daughter is predictable, but the ethereal prose and Fermine's graceful delivery of bits of wisdom make this brief fiction a memorable read.
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