Snow lived in a big household with a bustling kitchen where Cook would have meat roasting, puddings on the go and fruits stewing. She would sit under the table as a child listening to Cook barking orders at a couple of girls and a boy to get her this, or do that. It was also a safe place from her stepmother under that table.
Since those days many things have changed. She is now 12 years old and the onset of the effects of climate change mean vegetables no longer flourish in the garden of the chateau. Her loving father has become ill and bedridden. That is when her stepmother locked Snow in a cold dark cell. She has been there for three years. Snow is small for her age but full of determination and guile.
One night her cell door opens. A young hunter peers in at her and tells her to follow him. She treads behind him confused as they silently pass through the chateau and out into the night. Her calls her Little Queen, but she knows not why. She also doesn’t know that he has orders to kill her and bring Snow’s stepmother her heart.
This book is a clever retelling of Snow White, reset in a post-climate-changed world. Snow must survive as a young girl in a harsh world, which she does with a bear by her side, and find a way to take back what is hers.
I really enjoyed this tale. Inverarity has created a strong character in Snow and the setting is a bleakly evocative world. It is a cliché, but this book is full of heart and spirit. One I highly recommend.

Reviewed by Rowena Morcom
Age Guide 12+