The Big Snow

by David Park (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $3.61

  Northern Ireland, 1963. In a house with windows flung defiantly wide, a wife dies before her husband can make his confession. Elsewhere, an old woman searches desperately for a wedding dress in her dream of love. And in the very heart of the city, the purity of snow is tainted by the murder of a young woman, leaving one man in race against time - to find the murderer before the snow melts. This is the story of a time muffled and made claustrophobic by unprecedented snow falls. Suddenly shaken free from the normal patterns of their lives by the extremity of the weather, people find their intimate desires thrown into sharp relief and David Park shows this flawed slice of humanity to be somehow glorious. 'Ingenious' SUNDAY TIMES 'A magnificent writer' BELFAST TELEGRAPH 'Park writes prose like a poet; and the invisible lines of national borders and tribal territory are etched into a text which rolls thorugh time and space.' THE TIMES 'Some of the more exhibitionist fictional voices currently clamouring for our attention seem mute in comparison' INDEPENDENT 'Considerable dexterity, freshness, and insight (A) well-crafted, closely observed tale.' WASHINGTON POST

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $3.24

  Northern Ireland, 1963. This is the story of a time muffled and made claustrophobic by unprecedented snow falls, and of people caught in the slow dance of this frozen land. In a house with windows flung defiantly wide, a wife dies before her husband can make his confession. Her coffin is pulled to the church on a sledge by Peter, a young man engulfed by his first feelings of love for an unattainable woman. Elsewhere, an old woman searches desperately for a wedding dress in her dream of love. When the electricity fails, a lonely headmaster is forced to close his school and in shadowy candlelight he is tempted into indiscretion. Meanwhile, in the very heart of the city, the purity of snow is tainted by the murder of a young woman and as one man begins to unravel the dark secrets of the city, he knows he is in race against time to find the murderer before the snow melts. David Park peers into the souls of his characters with an insight and compassion that makes this flawed slice of humanity somehow glorious. He is a writer of rare dignity and talent.