Whiter than Snow

Sandra Dallas
2010
St Martin's Press
Historical Fiction

Reviewed by Cindy Loven

Set in 1920, in the High Colorado mountains near the Tenmile Range, in a small mining town called Swandyke, this story opens with a detailed description of the families and characters that the story are centered around.  An avalanche slides down the mountain killing five children, and this story of that fateful day. 
However this author (the first book I have ever read by her) takes great care to explain the character of each parent and each family represented in the story.  She also takes the time for us to see how those characters shaped how each family would handle the loss of their children.  Two sisters seperated by betrayal are reunited as one sister looses two of her children, while the other sister's children survive.  A black man, who has had hard life, running from his past, looses his only child.  A prostitute who is allowing her daughter to be raised by someone else, looses her daughter also.  A Civil War veteran, raising his only grandson, also finds himself as one of the ones who face this horrible loss.  A group of people unlikely to ever be grouped together by anything, find themselves facing a tragedy together.
A wonderfully written book, that was hard to put down once I started it.  I do warn there is some objectionable  language in this book. I enjoyed the way the story was set up, and while I normally do not review books that are not in the Christian fiction genre, I did enjoy this book.  292 pages $24.99 US 4 stars
This book was provided for review purposes only, no payment was received for this review. 
Learn more about Sandra Dallas at her website  www.sandradallas.com