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Whiter Than Snow
Whiter Than Snow opens in 1920, on a spring afternoon in Swandyke, a small town near Colorado’s Tenmile Range. Just moments after four o’clock, a large split of snow separates from Jubilee Mountain high above the tiny hamlet and hurtles down the rocky slope, enveloping everything in its path including nine young children who are walking home from school. But only four children survive. Whiter Than Snow takes you into the lives of each of these families: There’s Lucy and Dolly Patch—two sisters, long estranged by a shocking betrayal. Joe Cobb, Swandyke’s only black resident, whose love for his daughter Jane forces him to flee Alabama. There’s Grace Foote, who hides secrets and scandal that belies her genteel façade. And Minder Evans, a civil war veteran who considers his cowardice his greatest sin. Finally, there’s Essie Snowball, born Esther Schnable to conservative Jewish parents, but who now works as a prostitute and hides her child’s parentage from all the world. Ultimately, each story serves as an allegory to the greater theme of the novel by echoing that fate, chance, and perhaps even divine providence, are all woven into the fabric of everyday life. And it’s through each character’s defining moment in his or her past that the reader understands how each child has become its parent’s purpose for living. In the end, it’s a novel of forgiveness, redemption, survival, faith and family.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 30, 2010
125 people are currently reading
3627 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Dallas
50 books1,902 followersAward-winning author SANDRA DALLAS was dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley, in Vogue Magazine. Sandra’s novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films.
A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff member for twenty-five years (and the magazine’s first female bureau chief,) she covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.
While a reporter, she began writing the first of ten nonfiction books. They include Sacred Paint, which won the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Heritage Wrangler Award, and The Quilt That Walked to Golden, recipient of the Independent Publishers Assn. Benjamin Franklin Award.
Turning to fiction in 1990, Sandra has published eight novels, including Prayers For Sale. Sandra is the recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa Award for New Mercies, and two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, for The Chili Queen and Tallgrass. In addition, she was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Assn. Award, and a four-time finalist for the Women Writing the West Willa Award.
The mother of two daughters—Dana is an attorney in New Orleans and Povy is a photographer in Golden, Colorado—Sandra lives in Denver with her husband, Bob.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/sandra...
A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff member for twenty-five years (and the magazine’s first female bureau chief,) she covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.
While a reporter, she began writing the first of ten nonfiction books. They include Sacred Paint, which won the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Heritage Wrangler Award, and The Quilt That Walked to Golden, recipient of the Independent Publishers Assn. Benjamin Franklin Award.
Turning to fiction in 1990, Sandra has published eight novels, including Prayers For Sale. Sandra is the recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa Award for New Mercies, and two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, for The Chili Queen and Tallgrass. In addition, she was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Assn. Award, and a four-time finalist for the Women Writing the West Willa Award.
The mother of two daughters—Dana is an attorney in New Orleans and Povy is a photographer in Golden, Colorado—Sandra lives in Denver with her husband, Bob.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/sandra...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 730 reviews
June 21, 2022
Whiter than Snow by Sandra Dallas by was a good book about 9 kids who were buried in an avalanche. I enjoyed the book but it had a lot of characters to keep track of. It wasn’t until the last 2 hours of the book the avalanche took place. It also told about healing and acceptance of others
November 14, 2016
Sandra Dallas is a marvelous storyteller. I love her books because she also brings her characters to life, making them people you care about and relate to. My love of historical fiction also draws me to her books. "Whiter than Snow" is set in the historical town of Swandyke, located at a high elevation just west of the Continental Divide. The book begins with a massive avalanche in this mining town where the land has been cleared by hydraulic mining. So we know from the beginning that this disaster occurs just as school has dismissed, and likely some children are caught in the snow. But then Dallas tells the stories of various people who are from different backgrounds and locations, but all end up in Swandyke at this momentous time. The disaster brings the towns people together and proves to break down some social barriers. Though we know there is loss of life, it still is a story of forgiveness and acceptance that makes improvement in some people's lives.
April 23, 2010
I would like to give this more than 2 stars, but just can't quite get there. I read this book in a 24 hour time span - it was engrossing and a quick easy read. And I don't quite know what I expected, since I just picked up the book based on the fact that it was a new one from Sandra Dallas - I think I've read pretty much everything she's written. But somehow this didn't meet those expectations, whatever they were.
I'm not big on short story collections, and this sort of felt like that to me. Even though I figured once I got into it a bit that she was going to tie everything together, it still felt a bit choppy to me. And each person's "back story" had so many characters that I had to mentally keep them sorted in order to keep track of them all.
By the time I got to where Mrs. Dallas was wrapping things up, it almost felt rushed. (You know, like in one of those movies that are going along at a nice pace and suddenly it is as if they thought, "My gosh, we're into this thing 115 minutes, we better finish quick so we're at the usual 2 hour time span.")
I didn't quite sense the "redemption" thing that others have described. Just a bunch of people with tragic backgrounds, in a tragic situation with tragic consequences that deal with it the best they could. That's not an unusual story, and I didn't find the telling of it particularly extraordinary.
However, I am glad that I spent the time and read it. Just didn't think it measured up to some of the author's previous works.
A favorite passage:
"I never was arrested, and I never was a juror. I never rode in an automobile, and I have one tooth left. You think I'll go to heaven?"
I'm not big on short story collections, and this sort of felt like that to me. Even though I figured once I got into it a bit that she was going to tie everything together, it still felt a bit choppy to me. And each person's "back story" had so many characters that I had to mentally keep them sorted in order to keep track of them all.
By the time I got to where Mrs. Dallas was wrapping things up, it almost felt rushed. (You know, like in one of those movies that are going along at a nice pace and suddenly it is as if they thought, "My gosh, we're into this thing 115 minutes, we better finish quick so we're at the usual 2 hour time span.")
I didn't quite sense the "redemption" thing that others have described. Just a bunch of people with tragic backgrounds, in a tragic situation with tragic consequences that deal with it the best they could. That's not an unusual story, and I didn't find the telling of it particularly extraordinary.
However, I am glad that I spent the time and read it. Just didn't think it measured up to some of the author's previous works.
A favorite passage:
"I never was arrested, and I never was a juror. I never rode in an automobile, and I have one tooth left. You think I'll go to heaven?"
June 3, 2010
Sandra Dallas' books are pure enjoyment for me. Granted, they are not great literature, but I love her story telling. Her characters come alive for me and for a time, place me in the same room with them.
July 9, 2013
This was a really sad book, but I actually enjoyed it. While you read this book and learn all about the children in this town and their lives, you have no idea which children are going to be killed in the avalanche. I didn't think I could even read this, but I got intrigued by this story and actually finished it and was able to give it 4 stars.
September 2, 2011
GREAT storytelling! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book. One of my favorites ever!
August 11, 2019
I definitely enjoyed this more than I did Prayers for Sale! I particularly enjoyed the individual chapters that went into the backgrounds of the major characters involved. That being said, those chapters took up 2/3 of the book, so the aftereffects of the avalanche felt rushed and not quite as impactful. I wound up caring about the characters, but I didn’t get a sense of their grief or emotional states post-avalanche. The only character who got to have their grief centered was Joe, and I actually found that part of the novel to be one of the most poignant.
Overall, super quick summer read. Quality literature? No. Entertaining? Yes. Again, I enjoyed this far more than I did Prayers for Sale, and PfS seems to be one of Sandra Dallas’s more popular novels.
Overall, super quick summer read. Quality literature? No. Entertaining? Yes. Again, I enjoyed this far more than I did Prayers for Sale, and PfS seems to be one of Sandra Dallas’s more popular novels.
October 27, 2020
excellent read
May 10, 2020
In 1920, an avalanche hit the mining town of Swandyke, Colorado, just as school let out. There were kids on the street, just heading home, as the snow came tumbling down... The book starts by letting us know this, then backs up to find out about the lives of some of the parents (and one grandparent) of those children. Then, the book leads up to the avalanche itself.
There was no historical/author’s note, so I had to look this up to see if it really happened. It appears that Swandyke was a real town; now it’s a ghost town with some items and buildings, but I couldn’t find any mention of an avalanche that buried children there. However, this is a really good story. It was easy to get the characters mixed up a bit, as there were so many, and with one chapter on each family’s history, it took a minute when they were mentioned again to remember who was who. Even still, I enjoyed all of those families’ stories, though one stood out a bit more than the others for me (the black man working at the mine who had a young daughter).
There was no historical/author’s note, so I had to look this up to see if it really happened. It appears that Swandyke was a real town; now it’s a ghost town with some items and buildings, but I couldn’t find any mention of an avalanche that buried children there. However, this is a really good story. It was easy to get the characters mixed up a bit, as there were so many, and with one chapter on each family’s history, it took a minute when they were mentioned again to remember who was who. Even still, I enjoyed all of those families’ stories, though one stood out a bit more than the others for me (the black man working at the mine who had a young daughter).
August 16, 2017
Ratings (1 to 5)
Writing: 3
Plot: 4
Characters: 3
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 3.5
Writing: 3
Plot: 4
Characters: 3
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 3.5
April 27, 2023
An enjoyable story of people and community set in a Colorado mining town and centred round an avalanche.
August 14, 2025
Probably my least favorite of Sandra Dallas, a real slow burner, but the end offers so much hope.
January 4, 2017
A fairly good, light read that took a little while to get going and decide on its direction. It wasn't until about three-quarters of the way through the book that the major action happened, then the ending was rather neat and tidy. This was a perfect book to break up the more demanding one that I am reading at the same time.
October 11, 2010
It’s hard to describe just how unfortunately not good this book is. “Unfortunately” because you would expect more from a New York Times best-selling author. And given the genuine praise Sandra Dallas’s other novels received for her ability to write historical fiction and her “terrific” (according to Publisher’s Weekly) characters, you would expect Whiter Than Snow to stand out in the same ways. On the contrary, these are the elements which failed this time around.
The story begins with a devastating avalanche in the small mountain town of Swandyke, CO. After spending the first chapter going into some detail about the avalanche, Dallas spends the next five chapters giving back story on each of the parents of the children trapped in the avalanche. “Back story” may or may not be a fair term given that there is little more to the story than these chapters. However these “back stories” describe how each of the characters ended up in Swandyke and how they came to have the conflicts that they have. More entertaining stories keep the back story to a minimum and focus instead on how the character resolves their conflict. And while Dallas’s method could work, it doesn’t, as she spends as much time telling the reader as showing him or her what happened before. The remaining two chapters tell what happen after the earthquake hit.
Dallas’s characters come across as clichéd and boring. There are three women, two of which are ahead of their time (as the novel is set in the early 1900’s) and desperately want to go to college against the wishes of their parents. The rest of the stories seem stereotypical as well. Imagine a black man, a civil war veteran, and a hooker at the turn of the last century and you will have pretty much nailed the remaining three characters’ back stories.
Not everything about Whiter Than Snow is bad. It has a good message about forgiveness and the idea that life will go on. Still, the novel could have been more impactful had Dallas really let us get to know the characters through dialogue and scene and spent more time in the “after” the avalanche than the “before.”
June 2, 2010
I have yet to read a Dallas book that I wasn't totally absorbed into from the very first sentence. She has a way of putting the reader right there in the moment of tragedy. I felt the coldness of the snow. The desperation of the parents. The joy when a loved one was recovered. The anguish when a small child who would not draw another breath was laid to rest. The author does an amazing job of taking you into the lives of each family affected and traces the choices they made that brought them all to Swandyke, Colorado. There are so many different themes explored in this story: redemption, betrayal, forgiveness, racism, and love. It makes you think twice about fate and how nothing is really left to chance and that everything....everything has a reason and purpose.
Highly Recommended
Highly Recommended
June 5, 2017
A group of people from Swandyke, Colorado all come together one fateful afternoon when an avalance buries nine children on their home form school.
In the midst of death, sisters are reunited, men find redemption and forgiveness.
Half of the children are found safe.
In the midst of death, sisters are reunited, men find redemption and forgiveness.
Half of the children are found safe.
February 13, 2017
4.5 stars
April 27, 2019
Swandyke, Colorado, in the early 1900's was a small mining town at the foot of towering mountains. On a warm and sunny spring day in April a massive avalanche engulfed the road between the school and the town. Several children were caught in the tons of snow and while we know at the beginning of the story that only four of the nine children survived, we don't know which ones until the end.
Most of the book deals with the parents of the children and their backstories are rich and varied. Lucy and Dolly Patch are sisters who were as close as could be until one betrayed the other. Although they remained in the same town, they did not speak for years until the day of the tragedy as they stood together at the edge of the avalanche praying for their children. Joe Cobb, the one black man in town, had fled the south after he struck the white doctor who allowed Joe's wife to die in childbirth. His precious daughter is in the snow. Grace Foote, the wife of the mine's foreman, seems genteel and aloof to the Swandyke women, but Grace holds deep secrets and finds a wellspring of strength she never knew she had until her son became one of the victims. Minder Evans, a Civil War veteran, holds onto a shame and grief from his war experiences that he fears will take his beloved grandson from him in God's retribution. Essie Snowball was disowned by her Jewish family when she ran away with a handsome scoundrel. When she realized the truth about the man she married she fled to Colorado with her daughter. Even though she was a talented seamstress, the only work she could find was at the Pines, the local house of ill repute. All of these people will come together at the avalanche site waiting for word of their beloved children.
This is such a sad story but quite well done. The reader becomes very invested in each of the parent's lives and hopes that their child will be one of the four who survive. It nearly brought me to tears at the end but I liked book in spite of that.
Most of the book deals with the parents of the children and their backstories are rich and varied. Lucy and Dolly Patch are sisters who were as close as could be until one betrayed the other. Although they remained in the same town, they did not speak for years until the day of the tragedy as they stood together at the edge of the avalanche praying for their children. Joe Cobb, the one black man in town, had fled the south after he struck the white doctor who allowed Joe's wife to die in childbirth. His precious daughter is in the snow. Grace Foote, the wife of the mine's foreman, seems genteel and aloof to the Swandyke women, but Grace holds deep secrets and finds a wellspring of strength she never knew she had until her son became one of the victims. Minder Evans, a Civil War veteran, holds onto a shame and grief from his war experiences that he fears will take his beloved grandson from him in God's retribution. Essie Snowball was disowned by her Jewish family when she ran away with a handsome scoundrel. When she realized the truth about the man she married she fled to Colorado with her daughter. Even though she was a talented seamstress, the only work she could find was at the Pines, the local house of ill repute. All of these people will come together at the avalanche site waiting for word of their beloved children.
This is such a sad story but quite well done. The reader becomes very invested in each of the parent's lives and hopes that their child will be one of the four who survive. It nearly brought me to tears at the end but I liked book in spite of that.
May 31, 2021
Colorado author Sandra Dallas relates the tragic avalanche in Swandyke that claims five of the nine children trapped in the snow. Remaining chapters of her novel Whiter Than Snow, Dallas provides character sketches of the victims' families, revealing how, when and why they came to live in this mountainous mining town. The families are diverse: a civil war veteran grandfather raising his grandson; a run-away black sharecropper parenting his only daughter Jane; a Jewish prostitute paying a friend to raise her daughter; sisters who quarreled over a man reuniting in grief; the uppity wife of the mine manager offering her home as a hospital and morgue for the families and providing food for the men digging for the bodies. The town unites and grieves collectively regardless of social status the suffocated children. All but the black child's body is recovered when the governor of Colorado speaks at the funeral service, attracting national attention and reporters. Every family unit has a checkered past which the tragedy affords compassionate responses that surpass judgment and fear. Disasters unite people to work for the common good. Lives change. Why do some live and others die?
June 26, 2024
We just hosted Sandra Dallas for a book talk at our library. Unfortunately, I had to staff the main library and was not able to attend, but my coworkers who were there reported she was brilliant! To prep for the event I wanted to read one of her older books I hadn't read yet. This books premise is a devastating avalanche in the high mountain country of Colorado. It was written from many different POVs which created very in-depth rich, fascinating layers. I only wish it had a happier ending, but we all know that history seldom behaves nicely and is hardly ever interested in giving happy endings.
October 17, 2020
I really liked story was set up. It begins with a devastating avalanche in a mining town in CO. And it appears that some cildren are in its path. In each of the following chapters, a different caracter is introduced and and you learn what happened in their life that led them to living in this mining town. Great character development. The final chapters go back to the avalanche and how the twon and it's residents respond to the tragedy and to ech other;s deepest needs at a time like that. a Very redemptive ending.
I look forward to reading more by this author.
I look forward to reading more by this author.
August 8, 2017
Sandra Dallas never disappoints. She's a great storyteller and is always very well connected to the places in which she writes. I can always count on her for a satisfying read.
January 23, 2020
I liked reading about the backgrounds of each character. There was a good amount of drama.
I was confused about why Essie called herself Mrs Schnable though, Schnable was her maiden name.
I was confused about why Essie called herself Mrs Schnable though, Schnable was her maiden name.
November 17, 2022
I enjoyed how Sandra Dallas worked the shorter stories in to tell the overall story. I loved the theme of coming together in the midst of tragedy. Good book!!!
January 5, 2025
I loved the background stories of each of the main characters. It added such richness to the plot, which in reality only took up a small portion of the story. Also enjoyed the setting.
January 16, 2012
In 1920, in a small mining town, Swandyke, Colorado, a terrible tragedy happened. An avalanche, taking everything in its path, including nine children on their way home from school, hurtles down a slope.
Their are the Patch sisters, Lucy and Dolly, who between them have five children buried under all the snow. Lucy and Dolly have not spoken in many years, not since Dolly betrayed Lucy in the most horrible way. Wanting to get out of the town, Lucy goes to College, with the stipulation that she will return to Swandyke after she graduates to work. Her income going to her family to help support them. She agrees so that Dolly may have a better life. But just when Lucy finds true happiness, Dolly pulls the rug out from under her.
Joe Cobb is the only black man in Swandyke. Years ago, when his wife Orange was in labor with their second child, things were not going very well and Joe ran to the white doctor for help to save his wife. The doctor made Joe stand at the screen door while he finished his supper, drank his coffee and smoked his after-dinner cigar. Then he followed Joe to his wife, but it was too late. Orange had died in that time. Angry and bereaved, Joe hit the doctor. Knowing it for a hanging offense, Joe grabbed his young daughter Jane and ran. He ended up in the small town of Swandyke and has had a few enjoyable years, until his daughter is one of those buried in the snow.
Minder Evans is an elderly Civil War Veteran who spends his days cleaning and tidying up the cemetery. Minder hasn't had any peace in his life since his cowardice cost the life of his partner in the service. The true light in his life is his grandson Emmett, who he is raising. But when he finds out that Emmett is also buried in the avalanche, Minder believes God is punishing him for his cowardice years ago.
Essie Snowball is a prostitute in the small town of Swandyke. Not wanting to bring shame upon her daughter, she has her stay with a friend, and watches her from afar except dinner on Sundays. She never planned to fall into the life, as she always dreamed of being a dressmaker, but a shady romance turned south, it was the best way for her to make fast cash. Now, with her daughter under the snow, it might have been for naught.
Grace Foote is the Mining Managers wife. Grace grew up with money and went to finishing school. She fell in love, but he wouldn't marry her since her family just lost their wealth. She seduces Jim, and finding herself pregnant, they marry. But Grace has never fit in with the townsfolk, and has always put on airs. Now with her son buried in the avalanche, Grace will need to put her fancy ways behind her.
As the men dig for the children, the townsfolk all come together. Black, white, prostitute, or elderly, when there is a tragedy, all personal beliefs are set aside. As the women huddle together frantic for their children, they set aside old differences and realize that it didn't really matter in the big pictures, did it? And perhaps they will find peace, and forgiveness, and maybe hope.
WHITE THAN SNOW hooked me from the first page. I was entranced in the lives of the characters and devastated with the tragedy of the children. Some lived, some didn't, but you will find yourself praying they all do and your heart breaking when they don't. The lives of the townsfolk intertwine in a rich woven tapestry, and Ms Dallas unravels the pieces gently but firmly. I highly recommend Whiter Than Snow - one of the best books I've read this year!
Their are the Patch sisters, Lucy and Dolly, who between them have five children buried under all the snow. Lucy and Dolly have not spoken in many years, not since Dolly betrayed Lucy in the most horrible way. Wanting to get out of the town, Lucy goes to College, with the stipulation that she will return to Swandyke after she graduates to work. Her income going to her family to help support them. She agrees so that Dolly may have a better life. But just when Lucy finds true happiness, Dolly pulls the rug out from under her.
Joe Cobb is the only black man in Swandyke. Years ago, when his wife Orange was in labor with their second child, things were not going very well and Joe ran to the white doctor for help to save his wife. The doctor made Joe stand at the screen door while he finished his supper, drank his coffee and smoked his after-dinner cigar. Then he followed Joe to his wife, but it was too late. Orange had died in that time. Angry and bereaved, Joe hit the doctor. Knowing it for a hanging offense, Joe grabbed his young daughter Jane and ran. He ended up in the small town of Swandyke and has had a few enjoyable years, until his daughter is one of those buried in the snow.
Minder Evans is an elderly Civil War Veteran who spends his days cleaning and tidying up the cemetery. Minder hasn't had any peace in his life since his cowardice cost the life of his partner in the service. The true light in his life is his grandson Emmett, who he is raising. But when he finds out that Emmett is also buried in the avalanche, Minder believes God is punishing him for his cowardice years ago.
Essie Snowball is a prostitute in the small town of Swandyke. Not wanting to bring shame upon her daughter, she has her stay with a friend, and watches her from afar except dinner on Sundays. She never planned to fall into the life, as she always dreamed of being a dressmaker, but a shady romance turned south, it was the best way for her to make fast cash. Now, with her daughter under the snow, it might have been for naught.
Grace Foote is the Mining Managers wife. Grace grew up with money and went to finishing school. She fell in love, but he wouldn't marry her since her family just lost their wealth. She seduces Jim, and finding herself pregnant, they marry. But Grace has never fit in with the townsfolk, and has always put on airs. Now with her son buried in the avalanche, Grace will need to put her fancy ways behind her.
As the men dig for the children, the townsfolk all come together. Black, white, prostitute, or elderly, when there is a tragedy, all personal beliefs are set aside. As the women huddle together frantic for their children, they set aside old differences and realize that it didn't really matter in the big pictures, did it? And perhaps they will find peace, and forgiveness, and maybe hope.
WHITE THAN SNOW hooked me from the first page. I was entranced in the lives of the characters and devastated with the tragedy of the children. Some lived, some didn't, but you will find yourself praying they all do and your heart breaking when they don't. The lives of the townsfolk intertwine in a rich woven tapestry, and Ms Dallas unravels the pieces gently but firmly. I highly recommend Whiter Than Snow - one of the best books I've read this year!
August 7, 2010
Reason for Reading: I've always wanted to read a Sandra Dallas book and the plot of this one was particularly intriguing.
This is a beautiful story. It's what I call a light read. I picked the book up one evening and when it was time to turn out the light saw I had read three-quarters of the book. The story is simple and quite straight-forward but Dallas has written it in such a manner that the reader becomes emotionally involved in the characters by the time the already mentioned tragedy unfolds. She brings to her characters redemption, love, forgiveness and perhaps a look into God's mysterious way.
The story opens with an avalanche on top of a mountain in a tiny mining village and nine children coming home from school are caught in the slide. We are told four survived. Then each of the following chapters focuses on a child's or siblings' parents or in some cases parent. These historical vignettes can go as far back as the grandparents but most concentrate on the parent(s) and the one great or many small sins they have hidden in their lives. Each ends with the birth of the children or sometime in their early life. So we never really get to know the children, only through how they are thought of by others. Then comes a point when the story picks up with the avalanche and we watch the town come together to deal with the rescue and tragedy that is their fate.
The reader is in a position now to know how each family will react if it is their child(ren) that die and the reader is also vested in who could best handle the situation and perhaps who most needs redemption through the experience of death. Each person with a buried child has a reason to think they are being punished for their past sins and each also has reason to be forgiven. How it works out for the families in the end is very satisfying both for those who lost their children and those whose children lived. A beautiful story and a page-turner. I will certainly be adding Sandra Dallas to my list of authors to read.
This is a beautiful story. It's what I call a light read. I picked the book up one evening and when it was time to turn out the light saw I had read three-quarters of the book. The story is simple and quite straight-forward but Dallas has written it in such a manner that the reader becomes emotionally involved in the characters by the time the already mentioned tragedy unfolds. She brings to her characters redemption, love, forgiveness and perhaps a look into God's mysterious way.
The story opens with an avalanche on top of a mountain in a tiny mining village and nine children coming home from school are caught in the slide. We are told four survived. Then each of the following chapters focuses on a child's or siblings' parents or in some cases parent. These historical vignettes can go as far back as the grandparents but most concentrate on the parent(s) and the one great or many small sins they have hidden in their lives. Each ends with the birth of the children or sometime in their early life. So we never really get to know the children, only through how they are thought of by others. Then comes a point when the story picks up with the avalanche and we watch the town come together to deal with the rescue and tragedy that is their fate.
The reader is in a position now to know how each family will react if it is their child(ren) that die and the reader is also vested in who could best handle the situation and perhaps who most needs redemption through the experience of death. Each person with a buried child has a reason to think they are being punished for their past sins and each also has reason to be forgiven. How it works out for the families in the end is very satisfying both for those who lost their children and those whose children lived. A beautiful story and a page-turner. I will certainly be adding Sandra Dallas to my list of authors to read.
June 30, 2010
Sandra Dallas is a solid story-teller whose books often recreate early 20th century Midwestern and Western history. In "Whiter than Snow", the story of an avalanche in a dirt-poor gold-mining town in Colorado that kills or injures 9 schoolchildren, the author traces the life of each parent leading up to the moment when the snow rumbles down the mountain into the path as their child walks home from school that day. Like Wilder's "The Bridge of San Luis Rey", fate brings together formerly unconnected people when disaster strikes and as in that book the lives of the people are traced backward from that event. Unlike "the Bridge of San Luis Ray" where a priest witnesses a bridge falling and tries to figure out the connection among the victims and God's intent, Dallas' book does not consider the meaning of fate or God's intent. Most of the residents of the bleak town of Swandyke, Colorado have long since lost faith in God or at least stopped trying to find the meaning in the mining accidents, weather disasters, illness, poverty and wars that they have experienced. They just soldier on and find comfort in the community of the mutually bereaved and afflicted. Sounds like a grim story, but the books is suspenseful, well-plotted and ultimately hopeful, as are all of this author's books.
May 6, 2010
I have read two other of Sandra Dallas's books, and I enjoyed this as much as Tallgrass. I found Prayers For Sale to be a little slow. Whiter Than Snow is set in a mining town, as is Prayers For Sale. An avalanche falls in April 1920, in a small mining town in Colorado and buries nine young school children. The story begins with the avalanche and then quickly turns to describe the life of each parent or caregiver of the nine children. In the various stories are two sisters who have not spoken to one another in years, a Jewish prostitute saving money to open a dress making shop, an old Civil War veteran fighting with guilt, the mine manager and his wife, and the only Negro in the town-a single black man with a 6 year old daughter. As usual in Dallas's stories are the multitude of human emotions and existence; and the secrets that people hide. The story ends with the community coming together to dig for the children in hopes of finding survivors; as the reader waits to learn the fate of each of the nine children.
July 27, 2010
Another beautifully written story by Sandra Dallas. Dallas weaves a tale set in the 1920's in Swandyke, Colorado, a small mining town where an avalanche sweeps away nine young children as they walk home from school. Only four survive. The story goes back to share the stories of the lives of the parents of these children, of their differences in family, culture, social status and religion. Dallas puts you in the midst of the hardships, heartbreaks, family trials, the challenges faced in a small mining town and the emotional damages from the wages of war. After the avalanche, this bittersweet story tells of how people join together to help one another during a tragedy forgetting their differences and changing how they view and treat one another. Whiter Than Snow is a story of love, loss, forgiveness, family, redemption and God's grace.
This book reminded me of how neighbor and stranger alike always came together when we experienced hurricanes on the Gulf Coast of MS with everyone only looking to help one another rebuild lives.
This book reminded me of how neighbor and stranger alike always came together when we experienced hurricanes on the Gulf Coast of MS with everyone only looking to help one another rebuild lives.
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