(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Living and working in a mining town comes with a certain amount of risk.  Everyone knows what could happen, but no one ever expects it to really happen.  Until it does.  In Swandyke, Colorado, a small town near Tenmile Ridge, the inevitable occurs on an otherwise ordinary Spring day in 1920.  Just as the schoolchildren are heading home for the day, a split of snow cracks off the mountain, creating an avalanche with the deadly, unstoppable force of a speeding train.  Hurtling toward the children at the base of the mountain, the heavy snow threatens to bury them all.   

As the tragedy unfolds, residents of Swandyke look on in horror.  Those with children—including two sisters who haven't spoken to each other in decades; a murderer hiding from the law; a prostitute with a hidden identity; a Civil War veteran; and the superintendent's wife, who guards her own secrets—gather to worry, hope and pray.  While each waits to learn the fate of their little ones, their fears, prejudices, and secret longings swim to the surface.  With so many lives hanging in the balance, can the people of Swandyke put aside their many differences and come together as a community?  Or will the avalanche be their ultimate undoing?

Whiter Than Snow by Sandra Dallas is a sad, but hopeful tale about an ordinary town on an average day and how one cruel twist of fate affects everyone who lives there.  It's a vivid, moving story about redemption, forgiveness, and the quiet strength we often never know we possess.  While it's a bit depressing, I also found this novel to be both compelling and touching.  A very satisfying read altogether.  

(Readalikes:  Um, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

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