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Lanterns Across the Snow
As an old woman, Fanny looks back to the country Christmas she had in England when she was nine and realizes the moment when she left her childhood behind her.
79 pages, Hardcover
First published October 26, 1987
2 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Susan Hill
180 books2,266 followersSusan Hill was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1942. Her hometown was later referred to in her novel A Change for the Better (1969) and some short stories especially "Cockles and Mussels".
She attended Scarborough Convent School, where she became interested in theatre and literature. Her family left Scarborough in 1958 and moved to Coventry where her father worked in car and aircraft factories. Hill states that she attended a girls’ grammar school, Barr's Hill. Her fellow pupils included Jennifer Page, the first Chief Executive of the Millennium Dome. At Barrs Hill she took A levels in English, French, History and Latin, proceeding to an English degree at King's College London. By this time she had already written her first novel, The Enclosure which was published by Hutchinson in her first year at university. The novel was criticised by The Daily Mail for its sexual content, with the suggestion that writing in this style was unsuitable for a "schoolgirl".
Her next novel Gentleman and Ladies was published in 1968. This was followed in quick succession by A Change for the Better, I'm the King of the Castle, The Albatross and other stories, Strange Meeting, The Bird of Night, A Bit of Singing and Dancing and In the Springtime of Year, all written and published between 1968 and 1974.
In 1975 she married Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells and they moved to Stratford upon Avon. Their first daughter, Jessica, was born in 1977 and their second daughter, Clemency, was born in 1985. Hill has recently founded her own publishing company, Long Barn Books, which has published one work of fiction per year.
Librarian's Note: There is more than one author by this name.
She attended Scarborough Convent School, where she became interested in theatre and literature. Her family left Scarborough in 1958 and moved to Coventry where her father worked in car and aircraft factories. Hill states that she attended a girls’ grammar school, Barr's Hill. Her fellow pupils included Jennifer Page, the first Chief Executive of the Millennium Dome. At Barrs Hill she took A levels in English, French, History and Latin, proceeding to an English degree at King's College London. By this time she had already written her first novel, The Enclosure which was published by Hutchinson in her first year at university. The novel was criticised by The Daily Mail for its sexual content, with the suggestion that writing in this style was unsuitable for a "schoolgirl".
Her next novel Gentleman and Ladies was published in 1968. This was followed in quick succession by A Change for the Better, I'm the King of the Castle, The Albatross and other stories, Strange Meeting, The Bird of Night, A Bit of Singing and Dancing and In the Springtime of Year, all written and published between 1968 and 1974.
In 1975 she married Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells and they moved to Stratford upon Avon. Their first daughter, Jessica, was born in 1977 and their second daughter, Clemency, was born in 1985. Hill has recently founded her own publishing company, Long Barn Books, which has published one work of fiction per year.
Librarian's Note: There is more than one author by this name.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 18, 2018
A delightful little tale of Christmas long ago. Told through the eyes of elderly lady Fanny, we find her reminiscing about Christmas at the turn of the twentieth century when she was just 9 years old. This is rural England in the raw and if it doesn't fill you with nostalgia, and a longing for the simple pleasures in life, then I'll be very surprised. A lovely little tale.
December 4, 2021
’A happy childhood is like a magic circle. Lit from within, it throws a beam forwards into the present. Snow always fell on Christmas Eve, fat and soft as goose feathers, to lie like a quilt upon the ground all winter. That is what Fanny remembers, now that she is old, at another Christmas time.’
’Last night, the snow fell. And then I began to remember. I remembered all the things that I had forgotten. Or so it had seemed.
But not forgotten after all. They were all there, stored away like treasures.
Last night, the snow fell.’
This is how this begins, with the falling of the snow rekindling memories of days long gone, memories of a Christmas in Wessex, England that heralded the end of one century and the beginning of another, when she was a young girl.
It was cold. It was absolutely still. Quiet, so quiet, she could hear the pant of her own breathing, in, out, and the silky shuffle and squeak of her boots, pushing forward. She stopped. The air smelled cold. Tasted cold in her mouth. Above her head the sky was clearing, and she could see a few stars pricking out between the parting clouds. There would be moonlight, then, and no more snow tonight. A bone-white, frozen, beautiful world.
The daughter of a pastor, her memories of the people of her small village and the villagers. A Christmas that includes the death of one, the birth of another, alongside the sadness for the one, and joy of the other. The joy that she feels as she is entrusted with a view of a part of life that she had not encountered until then, the awe of how miraculous life can be, the sorrow of how quickly it can be taken away. It is an event that has become a part of her and how she views the world and appreciates the blessings of life, family and love.
’There is no one else left who remembers.
But last night the snow fell. And I remembered. I will write it all down, now, before it’s too late, too dark. For I am the last to remember.’
A lovely short story, shared in less than 80 pages.
November 30, 2021
This is a dear Christmas story, written just as an elderly woman would speak as she remembers a very special Christmas when she was nine. The words are so evocative of time and place, that you can almost smell the bitter cold and snow, the rich aromas from the kitchen, and visualize the glory of a sparkling tree with presents piled beneath. It encompasses both sorrow and joy, giving and receiving, not just from a nine-year-old perspective but also from the family and neighbors around them. Truly a gem that will be an annual Christmas read.
December 24, 2021
“ Last night, the snow fell. And then I began to remember. And today is Christmas Eve, and still it snows, and still I go on remembering , and the memories will keep me company. “
A lovely story of an elderly woman, Fanny, remembering her most memorable Christmas when she was a girl of nine. She vividly remembers the cold and the snow in all its brilliance. She remembers her excitement.
“For the next few hours, she darted about like a restless bird, hopping here, skipping there, too excited, too unsettled, wanting the hours to pass quickly, yet wanting it to go on being Christmas Eve, the magic waiting time, forever. “
Christmas is a time yo appreciate the love of family and friends and to appreciate the beauty around us.
Beautiful messages are contained in this book. A book to be read and reread and remembered.
Published: 1987
A lovely story of an elderly woman, Fanny, remembering her most memorable Christmas when she was a girl of nine. She vividly remembers the cold and the snow in all its brilliance. She remembers her excitement.
“For the next few hours, she darted about like a restless bird, hopping here, skipping there, too excited, too unsettled, wanting the hours to pass quickly, yet wanting it to go on being Christmas Eve, the magic waiting time, forever. “
Christmas is a time yo appreciate the love of family and friends and to appreciate the beauty around us.
Beautiful messages are contained in this book. A book to be read and reread and remembered.
Published: 1987
January 8, 2021
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
"Oh, the joy of waking, and remembering at once that it was Christmas morning. It was still only half-light, but because of the white radiance of the snow there was a brightness in her room, and Fanny could see perfectly well. She scrambled from her bed, and ran to the window and looked outside, but she could see nothing for the ferns and whorls and delicate tracery of rime on the inside of the pane. She touched her finger to it and it burned with the cold, and the air was cold, too, so that she dived at once back into her bed."
"The snow crunched under their feet, and everywhere, the sun caught on a million beads and drops of hoar frost and threw off a million rainbows, intensely bright and glittering. On the gate hung a spider's web, infinitely delicate, and stiff as frozen lace, with the spider itself frozen in the heart of it. And on the hedges and trees, the fences and posts, were the seams of snow. By the lych-gate, there was a robin on a yew branch, and in the way of robins, it kept company beside them, hop-hop, half a yard away over the snow, its breast red as a soldier's coat, its eye bead-bright."
"Last night, the snow fell, and I began to remember...when I was nine years old, and the snow lay like a goose-down quilt over the earth, and I walked across the churchyard, through the deep, soft drifts, to listen to my Father say evensong, by the light of the candles.
"I remember the carol singers coming with their lanterns across the snow...and in the kitchen the sweet rich smells and the dark, dark fruit in the china bowl, and the cat on a cushion and a lemon rolling onto the stone-flagged floor."
"...I remember. For that was the last country Christmas...And after that, it seemed, I left behind my childhood, that magic time, set within a circle and lit from within, so that the memory of it, coming to me down all the years, is as golden as the light of a lantern falling across the snow."
"I remember." What loveliness is hidden in those words.
January 4, 2015
Last night, the snow fell. And then I began to remember. And today is Christmas Eve, and still it snows, and still I go on remembering, and the memories will keep me company.
This is a special book. Tiny; jewel-like; perfect. The opening few pages, written from an old woman's perspective had me worried this was going to be mannered and consciously artsy, but once that's gone and we're in the experiences of a 9 year old experiencing a magical Christmas in the West Country, a century ago - rural, inward looking, but warm and welcoming - we have an idyll full of beautiful imagery and description and tiny detailed observations of nature. As gorgeous in its way as Dylan Thomas's child's Christmas memories.
There's death and birth and carols and snow and Christmas cake and doubts and certainties and warm fires and icy hearths.
I can see this book becoming a regular Christmas ritual from now on.
(#5 in my Year of Reading Women)
December 23, 2020
23 DEC 2020 - such a beautiful read. While reading, I was transported back in time. This is destined to become an annual read. Enjoy!
February 2, 2019
What a beautiful little story. It was both magical and painful and made the feast of St. Stephen seem so real. My only frustration was that I did wish I could have learned if the Rector did anything about that poor child who was working in the rich folks home and was being treated so poorly.
I loved the following quote: And then, oh the joy of seeing the stocking hung on the bedstead knob and bumps and bundles pushing out in all directions; and the pleasure of pulling out first this and then that, very gradually, carefully, heart racing with excitement, of looking and feeling and finding a book, full of wonderful coloured castles and silvery towers, and mythical monsters and princes and princesses, elves and goblins, winged beasts, fiery dragons."
I loved the following quote: And then, oh the joy of seeing the stocking hung on the bedstead knob and bumps and bundles pushing out in all directions; and the pleasure of pulling out first this and then that, very gradually, carefully, heart racing with excitement, of looking and feeling and finding a book, full of wonderful coloured castles and silvery towers, and mythical monsters and princes and princesses, elves and goblins, winged beasts, fiery dragons."
December 22, 2021
Many readers will recognize the name the author, but like me may assume it is a different Susan Hill. But this is the author of The Woman in Black and a number of mysteries. This is a book for young readers which describes one Christmas near Lyme, England. It is narrated by the nine-year-old daughter of a rector.
The description of the setting and the Christmas preparations and celebration are beautiful prose. It is a story told at a gentle pace of a bygone time. I want to thank another Goodreads reviewer for leading me to this gorgeous book. It appears to be out of print, but used copies are available. The copy I bought was from a library in Muscatine, Iowa, population under 24,000.
The description of the setting and the Christmas preparations and celebration are beautiful prose. It is a story told at a gentle pace of a bygone time. I want to thank another Goodreads reviewer for leading me to this gorgeous book. It appears to be out of print, but used copies are available. The copy I bought was from a library in Muscatine, Iowa, population under 24,000.
November 16, 2020
This novel is a sensory delight of all things Christmas. Fanny is remembering a special Christmas from when she was 9 and living with her family in the vicar's residence beside the church. She marvels at the beauty of the falling snow on Christmas Eve, and the scents of the baking in the kitchen, and the general air of happy busyness. Every sentence in the story is packed with the visceral pleasure of the season.
But not everything is perfect: Fanny also learns something about loss, when a member of the congregation suddenly dies. Her father is called away from Christmas dinner to visit the grieving family, and Fanny is torn between wishing that their family dinner had not been interrupted, and being proud of her father for his role in the community. He comes home to announce that there was also a birth in the community, another child to the already large, and poor Tumney family. Fanny is experiencing a lot of emotions of grief and happiness and outrage at the poverty of the Tumneys, and in her way, she matures a little over Christmas.
On St Stephen's Day, she accompanies her father to visit the grieving widow, and then visit the Tumneys. She takes her small place in the community as a comforter of the widow and as a celebrant of the birth of the baby. That evening, she is thrilled to be invited to a skating party by the local wealthy landowner. It is a magical experience that ties her Christmas with a big red bow of completion.
I highly recommend this short book to anyone who loves Christmas.
But not everything is perfect: Fanny also learns something about loss, when a member of the congregation suddenly dies. Her father is called away from Christmas dinner to visit the grieving family, and Fanny is torn between wishing that their family dinner had not been interrupted, and being proud of her father for his role in the community. He comes home to announce that there was also a birth in the community, another child to the already large, and poor Tumney family. Fanny is experiencing a lot of emotions of grief and happiness and outrage at the poverty of the Tumneys, and in her way, she matures a little over Christmas.
On St Stephen's Day, she accompanies her father to visit the grieving widow, and then visit the Tumneys. She takes her small place in the community as a comforter of the widow and as a celebrant of the birth of the baby. That evening, she is thrilled to be invited to a skating party by the local wealthy landowner. It is a magical experience that ties her Christmas with a big red bow of completion.
I highly recommend this short book to anyone who loves Christmas.
November 30, 2013
An enchanting little story, very poetic and lyrical. The book has those trademark Susan Hill touches of familiar little moments and observations, accentuated with a prose style that resonates strongly. I think I read the last passage about 3 times it was so beautiful. I found the narrative more staccato than other of her books and all-in-all it was a little too twee for me, but it still remains a lovely little tale, outlined in shrewd descriptions of a snowy winter and filled with a traditional Christmas warmth.
December 20, 2024
A short remembering of a childhood Christmas in the country from the memory of an elderly woman. I really savored the beautiful descriptions and found myself re-reading sentences out of appreciation. It was a perfect Christmas comfort read with a cup of hot tea and a gentle fire in the hearth. It would also make a good read-aloud - it spans 3 days (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day) and each part could easily be read each of those days. I might do that next year.
December 27, 2018
4.5 stars
September 13, 2020
What an enchanting little book. The poetry, the choice of words, the word repetition, is highly stunning. Words and images glitter off the page as you relive a magical Christmas with the narrator. I haven’t read a book where the snow-lit world has so deeply come to life. It is blindingly reflective of a talented and moving author.
December 21, 2019
This delightful book contains the reminiscences of Fanny's Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and St. Stephen's Day when she was nine years old. It is the serendipitous treasure that I picked up at a library sale today, and I loved it. It made me nostalgic for something I've never actually experienced -- an English country Christmas at the turn of the last century. It is a sweet little gem.
December 3, 2014
This story is told in the form of a memoir, but isn't. A vicar's daughter in what seems to be Edwardian England has various experiences during the Christmas season and learns about life and death; beautifully described setting in rural England with a love for the people and the land evident.
November 19, 2008
one of the best Christmas stories on my Christmas shelf...
January 1, 2014
A lovely little book. One that I reread around Christmas time most years, originally given to me when I was young by a godmother.
February 6, 2025
A beautiful evocation of the magic of Christmas
I bought this as a Christmas present for my daughter's family when I came across it in a second-hand bookshop in Whitstable. It's a short tale, which could be easily read - or re-read - in the course of an evening, about an old woman's memories of her Christmas as a child in the early part of the last century in a small country village. The memories are beautifully evoked in a simple, yet touching style - for example:
"Last night, the snow fell. And I began to remember. Remember joy and sorrow, nights and days, summer and winter and fresh, sweet spring; remember the tall old house, and the swing on the apple tree bough. The years roll back to reveal my childhood, set in a magic circle, bright, bright before the dark."
Besides remembrance, the themes are family, death, birth, love and the magic of Christmas. It's a lovely little story which can be read again and again as a reminder of this special time.
This hardback edition has been assembled very handsomely, with allusive little woodcut illustrations that enhance the tale that's being told.
Originally reviewed 23 January 2012
I bought this as a Christmas present for my daughter's family when I came across it in a second-hand bookshop in Whitstable. It's a short tale, which could be easily read - or re-read - in the course of an evening, about an old woman's memories of her Christmas as a child in the early part of the last century in a small country village. The memories are beautifully evoked in a simple, yet touching style - for example:
"Last night, the snow fell. And I began to remember. Remember joy and sorrow, nights and days, summer and winter and fresh, sweet spring; remember the tall old house, and the swing on the apple tree bough. The years roll back to reveal my childhood, set in a magic circle, bright, bright before the dark."
Besides remembrance, the themes are family, death, birth, love and the magic of Christmas. It's a lovely little story which can be read again and again as a reminder of this special time.
This hardback edition has been assembled very handsomely, with allusive little woodcut illustrations that enhance the tale that's being told.
Originally reviewed 23 January 2012
December 17, 2019
Is it just the fabulously evocative writing about that Christmas long ago that elderly Fanny recalls so simply? Or is it the host of ones own personal reminiscences that this magic little book immediately conjours up taking one rapturously back to the innocent age of 9 years old? Either way or both it was a 5 star journey for me. Certainly big on sentimental tugging of the heart strings but if you cannot do that at Christmas when can you? And a forcible reminder of times not so long ago which were very much tougher for most people than they are now, that even the relatively well off vicar's family would get cold, tired and hungry, and that the things that really matter still remain family, friends and the kindness of strangers to help one through milestone life events like birth and death. A fine message beautifully delivered by Susan Hill:
'She thought she had never been so happy in all her life, never felt so joyful and light of heart, that there had never been such magic in the world, such wonder, such a Christmas'
'She thought she had never been so happy in all her life, never felt so joyful and light of heart, that there had never been such magic in the world, such wonder, such a Christmas'
November 25, 2025
This is a delightful story of Fanny looking back at her country childhood at the age of nine when Christmas was a magical time filled with the sound of carol singers, the scents of Christmas preparations in the kitchen and a snow covered land resembling the softness of a feather quilt. I am so glad that I found this treasure of a book and know that it is one that I will revisit each Christmas to read about that country childhood more than a century ago and reflect on that golden time reflecting like a lantern across the snow.
December 6, 2022
An edearing story of Christmas past.
December 26, 2023
Lovely memories of a pastoral idyll at Christmas - death and birth together, joy and sorrow and community supporting all. Seen through the eyes of the rector’s daughter.
November 28, 2023
A lovely Christmas story that I will reread often, as the season draws near. Fanny, an old woman, remembers her last country Christmas, when she was nine years old. She remembers the excitement and anticipation of the day, glorying in the advent. She remembers the warmth of family and friends, her adored father who is the rector, and her brother, Will. She sees the contrast of death as she says good by to someone who had been kind to her, and new life as she holds a tiny babe born on Christmas day. There are carolers, carrying their lanterns across the snow, singing the good news. There is the joy of unexpected celebration on a beautiful, clear night after days of snow. Through it all, Fanny remembers to feel the glory of the season.
This is a charming, lyrical story, full of descriptive detail.
11/27/23
I don't think I can anything to the review I wrote last time, except that I loved this story even more. This time I would give it 5 stars!
This is a charming, lyrical story, full of descriptive detail.
11/27/23
I don't think I can anything to the review I wrote last time, except that I loved this story even more. This time I would give it 5 stars!
December 30, 2014
Lanterns Across The Snow by Susan Hill is a delightful tale of Christmas at the turn of the twentieth century. Fanny, an old lady reminisces about the Christmas she had when she was nine years old.
The book is short and split into five sections, but it awakens a spirit of a bygone era.
A totally delightful read that will have the reader filled with nostalgia and a longing for the days when simple pleasures bought the most joy.
The book is short and split into five sections, but it awakens a spirit of a bygone era.
A totally delightful read that will have the reader filled with nostalgia and a longing for the days when simple pleasures bought the most joy.
October 28, 2010
Told from the mind of a 9 year old girl, Christmas Eve and Day become a breathtaking and beautiful magical time in the countryside of England. Even though some sad moments occur, she vows with a solemn heart to Always REMEMBER them. Wonderfully reccomended for those who need a childlike take from a simpler time.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews