The Secret of Snow: A Novel
Feb 2026 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
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About this ebook
“This is a story about culture and identity and about fighting to keep your memories while being robbed of your history.” —Fredrik Backman, #1 New York Times bestselling author
This lyrical runaway Swedish hit explores the power of family, the joy of unexpected friendships, and the thrill of discovering where we come from.
Meet Máriddja: eccentric, eighty-five years old, and facing a cancer diagnosis. She’s determined to keep the truth about her illness from her husband Biera, while also finding someone who can take care of him once she’s gone.
Meet Kaj: a new transplant to the village, recently engaged to Mimmi, and mourning the death of his mother. One day, when Kaj unexpectedly finds a box of Sámi—the indigenous people of Scandinavia—handicrafts belonging to his mother, he unlocks something he never anticipated, something that will change his life for years to come.
A “brilliant debut” (Aftonbladet Söndag, Sweden) that is “sparkling with magical realism” (Booklist), humor, and heartbreak, The Secret of Snow movingly grapples with how the threads of the past weave through the present, binding strangers into family and transforming loss into a kind of homecoming.
This lyrical runaway Swedish hit explores the power of family, the joy of unexpected friendships, and the thrill of discovering where we come from.
Meet Máriddja: eccentric, eighty-five years old, and facing a cancer diagnosis. She’s determined to keep the truth about her illness from her husband Biera, while also finding someone who can take care of him once she’s gone.
Meet Kaj: a new transplant to the village, recently engaged to Mimmi, and mourning the death of his mother. One day, when Kaj unexpectedly finds a box of Sámi—the indigenous people of Scandinavia—handicrafts belonging to his mother, he unlocks something he never anticipated, something that will change his life for years to come.
A “brilliant debut” (Aftonbladet Söndag, Sweden) that is “sparkling with magical realism” (Booklist), humor, and heartbreak, The Secret of Snow movingly grapples with how the threads of the past weave through the present, binding strangers into family and transforming loss into a kind of homecoming.
“This is a story about culture and identity and about fighting to keep your memories while being robbed of your history.” —Fredrik Backman, #1 New York Times bestselling author
This lyrical runaway Swedish hit explores the power of family, the joy of unexpected friendships, and the thrill of dis...
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Ratings and reviews
1 review
Linda Brown
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February 4, 2026
Touching, poignant, but with comic relief🏞There were a number of good elements to this novel largely focused on an elderly Sami couple living with illness & a deeply troubling loss. Their situation is sad but well described; they live isolated from society in a deteriorating cottage with his memory fading & her body failing. Mariddja, the wife, worries they will be separated by social services or her husband will be unable to cope when she passes. So she develops a plan to find prevent it.
About the author
Tina Harnesk is a writer of Sámi descent born in northern Sweden. She works as a library assistant and lives on a mountain outside Arvidsjaur, Sweden, with her husband and children. The Secret of Snow is her debut novel.
Alice Menzies holds an MA in translation theory and practice from University College London, specializing in the Scandinavian languages. She has translated, among other works, And Every Day the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman. She lives in London.
Alice Menzies holds an MA in translation theory and practice from University College London, specializing in the Scandinavian languages. She has translated, among other works, And Every Day the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman. She lives in London.
Tina Harnesk is a writer of Sámi descent born in northern Sweden. She works as a library assistant and lives on a mountain outside Arvidsjaur, Sweden, with her husband and children. The Secret of Snow is her debut novel.
Alice Menzies holds an MA in translation theory and practice from Universit...
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