Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
November 1, 2011/in Fiction 8-10 Junior/Middle /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 191 November 2011
Reviewer: Andrea Reece
ISBN: 978-1849393713
Price: £12.99
Publisher: Andersen Press
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 8-10 Junior/Middle
Length: 256pp
Buy the Book

The Snow Merchant

Author: Sam Gayton

Lettie Peppercorn lives in the draughtiest inn on the world’s windiest shore.  At 12 she is already its landlady.  Her mother left when she was just a baby, and her father spends his time in the pub, ‘The Clam Before the Storm’, drinking and gambling. Lettie has been warned that the outside world is dangerous for her, and even her best friend, Periwinkle the pigeon, seems to be turning to stone. On the night the book opens, she already has two difficult lodgers but the adventure really begins with the arrival of another guest, a frozen man with a suitcase full of mystery. This man claims to be an alchemist and he will transform Lettie’s life.

Sam Gayton is a graduate of the Writing for Young People MA at the Bath Spa University that has already produced excellent writers such as Elen Caldecott, Jim Carrington and Sally Nicholls.  Gayton is another exciting new talent: The Snow Merchant is exhilarating, entertaining and original, bursting with ideas. Language and images surprise throughout: Lettie’s dad ‘reeks of ale and tears’; finding a leaf in the ocean is ‘like finding a sunset in the middle of the night or mustard in the middle of a Victoria sponge’.

Lettie’s adventure takes her far away from home, brings her up against cheats and thieves, and exposes her to all sorts of strange magic. No matter how fantastical the action, however, the story is rooted in the stuff of real life: family, home, love. Adults have let Lettie down, not least her father, and she wonders if there’s a grown-up alive who doesn’t care about getting rich. She has to work even harder than she did in the guesthouse to reassemble her strange family but she does it, proving herself ‘dependable, resourceful, stubborn and patient … and able to sculpt her own destiny which is the most important thing about being human’.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2011-11-01 00:00:262022-01-27 18:23:52The Snow Merchant

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

‘Exceptionally talented illustrators’ Shortlist announced for the 2025 Klaus Flugge Prize

May 15, 2025

Next stop Shakespeare’s Globe – finalists of Poetry By Heart competition 2025 announced

May 8, 2025

School Library Association announces Information Book Award longlist and new nationwide Book Club

May 7, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
The Power of Six Ready Steady Ghost!
Scroll to top