Fairytale Beginnings

Eowyn Ivey’s 2012 debut The Snow Child, a haunting, magical retelling of a Russian fairy tale transposed to her native Alaska in the 1920s, made her an international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist. Four years later, its follow-up, To the Bright Edge of the World, is one of the year’s most anticipated novels.
‘It’s a little bit intimidating,’ Eowyn confesses. The former journalist and bookseller, now a full-time writer, is speaking from her home in southern Alaska – it’s nine in the morning for her, early evening in the UK. 4,000 miles away, her voice is as clear as a bell. ‘With The Snow Child I had no expectations. I feel so blessed that it reached so many readers, but it is a double-edged sword because of the expectation.’