Cover of Snow

Starred review from October 29, 2012
When house restorer Nora Hamilton finds that her policeman husband, Brendan, has hanged himself, her image of their idyllic life in Brendan’s Adirondacks hometown of Wedeskyull, N.Y., is shattered in Milchman’s evocative debut. Yet Nora is not content to accept her husband’s death as a suicide. As she tries to make sense of the tragedy and investigate, Brendan’s mother and his police co-workers stonewall her. Refusing to simply move on, Nora discovers more and more things about Brendan that don’t add up. Why did he get a prescription for sedatives a week before committing suicide? What does the death of his brother exactly 25 years before have to do with anything? The townsfolk’s reticence to answer these questions only further compels her to uncover the truth about Brendan’s past. Milchman expertly conveys Nora’s grief in a way that will warm hearts even in the dead of a Wedeskyull winter. Agent, Julia Kenny, Markson Thoma Literary.

April 29, 2013
Set in a small Adirondack Mountain town of Wedeskyull in upstate New York, home restorer Nora Hamilton awakens one cold winter morning to find her seemingly idyllic life shattered by the apparent suicide of her police officer husband, Brendan. Stunned by Brendan’s death, Nora is determined to find out what could have led the man she loved to take such drastic measures. She begins to investigate his last few days hoping to find answers, but gets more than she bargained for when she uncovers secrets from her husband’s past that reach back decades—secrets that someone is willing to kill for to keep quiet. Cassandra Campbell’s reading hooks listeners from the beginning and never lets go. Her characterizations are spot-on and unique. But it is with Nora that she shines brightest, creating a distinctive heroine who grows along with the story. The book’s climax will keep listeners riveted.A Ballantine hardcover.