Name: Oregonian (Signed) · Date: 20 Feb 2021 06:40 AM · For: Letters

Hi, Noelle.

 

Oh, wow.  I was enjoying this story so much, year after year, and the letter format worked so well. (I had been a little dubious about that before I started, but silly me.  Everything you write is great, and I should never worry.)

 

Then there was the sad ending, and I belatedly remembered that there had been some family history about this that was presented in one of your earlier stories, maybe Moonlight. It seems like a long time ago that I read it.  But it really hits hard when you see the build-up over the years, what a great guy Columba was, you feel like you're getting to know him, he's so important to Miranda, and then ...wham.

 

And we know that the loss of Columba is not the only loss that Miranda is going to face.

 

This is an apropos time for me to be reading this story, focused on the Easter season year after yeat, with the threads of Holy Week weaving through it because of course Lent has just started, so we are all in the mood.

 

The structure of the story was well crafted -- one brief period in each year when the students are at home, so naturally they write to one another, and it's a special holiday season, so naturally they have a common thread, as well as the changes that happen to them every year in the process of growing up.  Your creativity is remarkable.  That FROG award was well deserved.

 

Vicki

Snow Foxes

Author's Response:

Hi Vicki! 

 

Yes, it is mentioned in Moonlight that Columba died young. And even though I knew that going into this story, and knew that I was going to write about his death, it still broke my heart. I hate killing characters.

 

I'm so glad you enjoyed the letter format! I was a little nervous about attempting it, but once I got going, it was so much fun! I wrote the whole thing in one afternoon, if I remember correctly. It was the first time I'd ever written David too, so that was an adventure.

 

Thank you so much for this lovely review!!

 

Yours,

Noelle