Michael Cunningham’s luminous novel The Snow Queen begins with a vision. Heart broken Barrett Meeks walks through Central Park and sees a pale, translucent light that seems to regard him in a distinctly godlike way. Barrett doesn’t believe in visions—or in God—but he can’t deny what he’s seen.
In the not-quite-gentrified Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, struggling musician Tyler, Barrett’s brother, is trying yet failing to write a wedding song that is an enduring expression of his love for Beth, his wife-to-be, who is seriously ill.
Barrett, haunted by the light, turns unexpectedly to religion. Tyler grows increasingly convinced that only drugs can release his creative powers. Beth tries to face mortality with as much courage as she can summon.
Each travel down a different path in their search for transcendence. In subtle, lucid prose, Cunningham demonstrates a profound empathy for his conflicted characters and a singular understanding of what lies at the core of the human soul.
"Tender, funny, and sorrowful, Cunningham's beautiful novel is as radiant and shimmering as Barrett's mysterious light in the sky, gently illuminating the gossamer web of memories, feelings, and hopes that mysteriously connect us to each other as the planet spins its way round and round the sun." - Booklist (Starred Review)
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