The Secret of Snow

“This is a story about culture and identity and about fighting to keep your memories while being robbed of your history.” —Fredrik Backman, #1 New York Times bestselling author

This lyrical runaway Swedish hit explores the power of family, the joy of unexpected friendships, and the thrill of discovering where we come from.

Meet Máriddja: eccentric, eighty-five years old, and facing a cancer diagnosis. She’s determined to keep the truth about her illness from her husband Biera, while also finding someone who can take care of him once she’s gone.

Meet Kaj: a new transplant to the village, recently engaged to Mimmi, and mourning the death of his mother. One day, when Kaj unexpectedly finds a box of Sámi—the indigenous people of Scandinavia—handicrafts belonging to his mother, he unlocks something he never anticipated, something that will change his life for years to come.

A “brilliant debut” (Aftonbladet Söndag, Sweden) that is “sparkling with magical realism” (Booklist), humor, and heartbreak, The Secret of Snow movingly grapples with how the threads of the past weave through the present, binding strangers into family and transforming loss into a kind of homecoming.