The Snow Merchant by Sam Gayton

 

 

Lettie Peppercorn lives in a house on stilts near the wind-swept coast of Albion. Nothing incredible has ever happened to her, until one winter's night.
The night the Snow Merchant comes.
He claims to be an alchemist - the greatest that ever lived - and in a mahogany suitcase, he carries his newest invention.
It is an invention that will change Lettie's life - and the world - forever.
It is an invention called snow.

 

 

This book is magical. Lettie Peppercorn cannot leave her house on stilts, she has been warned never to set foot outside her home. When the snow merchant arrives at the White Horse Inn which Lettie lives in and runs, everything is turned upside down. Then Noah appears, a boy with a stalk growing out of his shoulder. This book is very fast paced and unpredictable. Once Lettie sets foot outside, the most unexpected things start to happen leading to her finding out about her mother who disappeared when she was small. I don't want to give too much away as this was a really great read!

 

It reminded us a bit of Philip Pullman's books, the illustrations by Chris Riddell are great too when you come accross them

 

 

This was a popular book with our group although I think some people got a bit confused as there were so many things happening in the storyline and it moved very fast. It had just been snowing between our meetings too so that was nice. It's a very unusual zany story, perfect if you want to read something a bit different

 

Sam Gayton has a website where he talks about about how he got inspiration for this book and you can also see the early version of the start of this story

For anyone wanting to read more of Sam Gayton's books he has also written "Lilliput" and "Hercufleas"