“Snowfall” – K. M. Peyton
In K. M. Peyton’s novel, “Snowfall,” readers find themselves thrown back to Victorian England. In a small village, Peyton introduces the main character of the story. Charlotte is a sixteen-year-old girl who dreams of being anywhere but the vicarage that she feels trapped in with her grandfather. With no parents or dowry, her grandfather has arranged for her to marry the man who will replace him as the village vicar, Hubert Carstairs. Charlotte feels that this arranged marriage with Mr. Carstairs is bringing an end to her life. It is a little over-dramatic, but the author successfully conveys Charlotte’s sixteen-year-old emotions. In order to avoid her arranged marriage, Charlotte arranges with her brother Ben, an Oxford student, to go away on one incredible vacation. Her brother, while hesitant at first, helps convince their grandfather to let her go with on a trip to the Alps that Ben was already planning with several of his Oxford friends. From there the reader jumps aboard an adventure in the Swiss Alps. Upon arriving in Switzerland, Charlotte is introduced to a range of new characters. Ben’s friends include Milo, the dashing aristocrat who feels more at home on a mountainside than at a fancy party; Mar, a man hiding from the law for a crime he did not commit; Roland, a gardener and several other fascinating characters.