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Snow White: The Lost Years: Novella
Everyone knows the story: a poisoned apple, an enchanted sleep, a kiss that breaks the curse. No one ever asks what happens in between.
Trapped in the seam between life and death, Snow White wakes in a colorless realm where time bends, memory deceives, and nothing behaves as it should. Her only constant is a wary black wolf, a guarded soul who walks beside her when nothing else will, and what begins as fragile trust becomes the one connection she cannot bear to lose.
When a stranger’s kiss calls her back, thirteen years have passed. Her father is older, her kingdom has changed, and the life stolen from her cannot be returned untouched. But something about the man who wakes her feels impossibly, achingly familiar.
A hauntingly romantic reimagining of Snow White, The Lost Years asks whether two souls can find each other across time, even when one of them has forgotten the way.
Trapped in the seam between life and death, Snow White wakes in a colorless realm where time bends, memory deceives, and nothing behaves as it should. Her only constant is a wary black wolf, a guarded soul who walks beside her when nothing else will, and what begins as fragile trust becomes the one connection she cannot bear to lose.
When a stranger’s kiss calls her back, thirteen years have passed. Her father is older, her kingdom has changed, and the life stolen from her cannot be returned untouched. But something about the man who wakes her feels impossibly, achingly familiar.
A hauntingly romantic reimagining of Snow White, The Lost Years asks whether two souls can find each other across time, even when one of them has forgotten the way.
138 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 19, 2026
About the author
Julia Crane
81 books963 followersJulia crane is the author of the Keegan’s Chronicles, IFICS. She has a bachelors degree in criminal justice. Julia has believed in magical creatures since the day her grandmother first told her an Irish tale. Growing up her mother greatly encouraged reading and using your imagination.
http://juliacrane.com
http://juliacrane.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 25, 2026
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This retelling of Snow White has an ethereal quality about it. It doesn't go heavy on romance, and being a novella there's only so much world that needs building. It focuses on the experience of our the princess as she tries to comprehend what her step-mother's ill will can drive her to do. It's a life lesson hidden in floaty fantasy strangeness.
You know the story: princess Snow White has a jealous step-mother who wants her gone so that as Queen she can be the most beautiful in the land. A father blind to the problem. A mirror holding dark secrets. A poisoned apple. An eternal sleep...
But what if we add a land of mist, a grieving heart learning how to move on, and a love that takes time to grow.
This retelling does use the basic plot points, but plays around with them in a way that really pulls us in to Snow's mind. While I could feel the third person writing kept us at arm's length when it comes to emotions, that doesn't me we don't get to see her sorrow or feel her anger. I loved that she really did feel like a relatable girl even if she was in a fairy tale.
We also get to see things from the Queen's POV, which takes away some of that Evil Villian-ness usually ascribed to the character by making her have real emotions and motives even if they aren't particularly pure.
A third character also has their own chapters, bringing in the fairy tale high romance where a kind and noble heart being more important than looks or big, flashy insta-love. He's not a flawless Prince Charming full of confidence and assuredness, which makes him much more relatable.
At times I did wish there was a little more to the world and the foreshadowing of how magic works there. I didn't quite get it in the way I think I was meant to.
There's something almost peaceful and melancholy about this short retelling. It felt like a true fairy tale with hints of darkness around the edges. Good and evil exist as choices, not immutable facts. It gives you something to think about as much as it does entertain.
This retelling of Snow White has an ethereal quality about it. It doesn't go heavy on romance, and being a novella there's only so much world that needs building. It focuses on the experience of our the princess as she tries to comprehend what her step-mother's ill will can drive her to do. It's a life lesson hidden in floaty fantasy strangeness.
You know the story: princess Snow White has a jealous step-mother who wants her gone so that as Queen she can be the most beautiful in the land. A father blind to the problem. A mirror holding dark secrets. A poisoned apple. An eternal sleep...
But what if we add a land of mist, a grieving heart learning how to move on, and a love that takes time to grow.
This retelling does use the basic plot points, but plays around with them in a way that really pulls us in to Snow's mind. While I could feel the third person writing kept us at arm's length when it comes to emotions, that doesn't me we don't get to see her sorrow or feel her anger. I loved that she really did feel like a relatable girl even if she was in a fairy tale.
We also get to see things from the Queen's POV, which takes away some of that Evil Villian-ness usually ascribed to the character by making her have real emotions and motives even if they aren't particularly pure.
A third character also has their own chapters, bringing in the fairy tale high romance where a kind and noble heart being more important than looks or big, flashy insta-love. He's not a flawless Prince Charming full of confidence and assuredness, which makes him much more relatable.
At times I did wish there was a little more to the world and the foreshadowing of how magic works there. I didn't quite get it in the way I think I was meant to.
There's something almost peaceful and melancholy about this short retelling. It felt like a true fairy tale with hints of darkness around the edges. Good and evil exist as choices, not immutable facts. It gives you something to think about as much as it does entertain.
October 1, 2026
I finished this novella in a state of quiet awe.
The emotion is so subtle it creeps up on you, and this is thanks to the lyrical writing style of Julia Crane. I've not read anything of hers before, but I am already excited for her dark retelling of Cinderella that was referenced in the author acknowledgements at the end.
Her choice of words is minimal but does a lot of work. For example, on the first page, I was struck by this line: "The potion waited in her hand, dark as a bruise and no larger than her thumb."
I read that and I knew I was going to love what was to come.
There were passages that felt so real to me, and pulled upon memories and emotions of my own. For example: "She would remember this later more than almost anything else from that morning: a girl and an old badge sharing a patch of sun with no fear between them. It was the kind of moment a person does not know to treasure until it has become impossible to have again."
Now read that again and tell me you aren't thrown back into happier times?
I've been reading a lot of smut lately, and perhaps I've become a bit tired of the familiar rush towards the spice and third act betrayal. There was none of that in this novella. Yes, we all know that Snow White is awoken by true love's kiss, but her gallant knight in shining armor is a quiet, broken, emotionally complex man who fell in love with a dream as a boy and had to experience pain in order to move towards his own happily ever after.
This also underlines the fact that the charm of the novella is actually what's NOT on the page. Crane trusts silence, and her reader's own imagination and emotional repertoire. Some of the biggest, most moving moments for me were built around what her characters never articulated.
I loved this and it fully earned my 5 stars, I want to turn around and read it again, and the last book I remember feeling this way about was "The Hundred and One Dalmatians" when I was eight.
Please read it, and feel your emotions wake from a long sleep.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The emotion is so subtle it creeps up on you, and this is thanks to the lyrical writing style of Julia Crane. I've not read anything of hers before, but I am already excited for her dark retelling of Cinderella that was referenced in the author acknowledgements at the end.
Her choice of words is minimal but does a lot of work. For example, on the first page, I was struck by this line: "The potion waited in her hand, dark as a bruise and no larger than her thumb."
I read that and I knew I was going to love what was to come.
There were passages that felt so real to me, and pulled upon memories and emotions of my own. For example: "She would remember this later more than almost anything else from that morning: a girl and an old badge sharing a patch of sun with no fear between them. It was the kind of moment a person does not know to treasure until it has become impossible to have again."
Now read that again and tell me you aren't thrown back into happier times?
I've been reading a lot of smut lately, and perhaps I've become a bit tired of the familiar rush towards the spice and third act betrayal. There was none of that in this novella. Yes, we all know that Snow White is awoken by true love's kiss, but her gallant knight in shining armor is a quiet, broken, emotionally complex man who fell in love with a dream as a boy and had to experience pain in order to move towards his own happily ever after.
This also underlines the fact that the charm of the novella is actually what's NOT on the page. Crane trusts silence, and her reader's own imagination and emotional repertoire. Some of the biggest, most moving moments for me were built around what her characters never articulated.
I loved this and it fully earned my 5 stars, I want to turn around and read it again, and the last book I remember feeling this way about was "The Hundred and One Dalmatians" when I was eight.
Please read it, and feel your emotions wake from a long sleep.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
September 25, 2026
What a hauntingly beautiful retelling of Snow White. The clever little words of wisdom blooming throughout takes this book from ordinary to extraordinary.
“Fear may explain cruelty, but it does not excuse it. Compassion does not ask us to pretend the wound is not there. It only asks us to choose what the wound is allows to make of us.”
I appreciated that the characters had a high level of intellect that tempered their raw emotion.
A thinking woman’s guide to fairy tales. A bittersweet walk through the mist leading us to where Want and Should are twined around Is. This will be one of those books that you think about on the bus to work or tell that friend to read as well so you can talk about it together.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
“Fear may explain cruelty, but it does not excuse it. Compassion does not ask us to pretend the wound is not there. It only asks us to choose what the wound is allows to make of us.”
I appreciated that the characters had a high level of intellect that tempered their raw emotion.
A thinking woman’s guide to fairy tales. A bittersweet walk through the mist leading us to where Want and Should are twined around Is. This will be one of those books that you think about on the bus to work or tell that friend to read as well so you can talk about it together.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I was given this arc by author. I really enjoyed this spin on Snow white. I really love the building of the world and characters and the way it unfolded. was totally a different way of looking at Snow White and in between while she was sleeping (dead). I really enjoy Julia Crane's writing style. I can't wait to read this again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews