House Under Snow - by Jill Bialosky (Paperback)

About the Book

This first novel by a celebrated American poet is a story of mothers and daughters, of sexual identity, and of a family disintegrating after the premature death of its patriarch.

Book Synopsis

A novel by an acclaimed American poet, House Under Snow is a story of mothers and daughters, of sexual identity, of a family slowly disintegrating after the premature death of its patriarch. Anna Crane, soon to be married, reflects back on her childhood in Ohio during the 1960s and '70s with her two sisters and her charismatic, self-destructing mother. Evoking the claustrophobia of small-town life, Anna's first passionate love affair with a troubled boy who works as a groom and trainer at a horse track, and her mother's endless stream of suitors and a failed marriage, the novel races toward a chilling conclusion when Anna is betrayed by the two most important figures in her young life.

Not since Alice McDermott's That Night has there been such a telling portrait of first love. And not since Mona Simpson's Anywhere But Here have we witnessed the destructive, seductive nature of a mother who insists on competing with her children. An unforgettable tale of the power and vulnerability of sex and family, history and the past, House Under Snow is a lyrical and brilliant fictional debut.

From the Back Cover

"A lucid, finely crafted first novel . . .Captures the purity and desperation of adolescent love in thick, sensual descriptions tinged by the wisdom of distance." -Los Angeles Times
In this poignant and sensual story, Anna Crane, a woman soon to be married, reflects on her Ohio childhood during the 1960s and '70s. She recalls life with her two sisters and their charismatic mother, who is consumed by memories of her late husband. When Anna falls in love with the wild Austin Cooper, she finds herself caught between family loyalty and her own young passions. As she struggles to assert her independence and adulthood, she and her sisters begin to understand how their mother's failure to let go of the past threatens the future of the family.
Illuminating the price of loss and survival, House Under Snow is a brilliantly told tale of first love, of a family's slow disintegration, and of the enduring power of the past.
"Artful . . . A quiet stepsister to Rick Moody's The Ice Storm."-The New York Times Book Review
"An elegiac novel of a father's sudden death and its lingering effect on the family he leaves behind." -The Washington Post
Jill Bialosky received an M.A. in writing from Johns Hopkins University, as well as an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is the author of two books of poetry, The End of Desire and Subterranean, and her poems and essays appear regularly in the Paris Review, the New Yorker, American Poetry Review and The Nation. She lives in New York with her husband and son.

Review Quotes

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR HOUSE UNDER SNOW

"Present in every exquisite line are the author's myriad gifts as poet and
storyteller."--Helen Schulman, author of The Revisionist
"A passionate, sensually written tale of a daughter's struggle to wrest free of her mother's fitful and destructive influence."--Jennifer Egan, author of Look at Me
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