Books for Keeps
Whenever a human life confronts an instance of fifty-fifty probability, = be it surviving or succumbing to an injury, giving birth to a boy or a = girl, the universe bifurcates, and two sets of lives run on in parallel, = one for each outcome - neither aware of the existence of the other. This = fascinating premise is the key to the mystery of how Rob and Bobby find = themselves able to step into and out of each other's disconcertingly = similar but different worlds, using a snow storm paperweight as a = vehicle. But what might happen if the vehicle gets broken? The book's = two endings explore the possibilities. This is one of the most = thought-provoking books I've read in a long time. It touches upon a = metaphysical enigma at just the right level for curious children, while = the tale of bereavement, acceptance and renewal that it tells is both = moving and intriguing.
Junior Bookshelf=20
For his first novel Michael Lawrence has chosen to play ducks and drakes = with the old established philosophical tenet that nothing can both be = and not be in the same time and place. Molly Harrison is involved in a = serious car accident and given a fifty-fifty chance of survival. In When = the Snow Falls she both dies and survives. How her husband and child = cope with such a development leading in such differing directions is = explored in fascinating detail.
Molly's death leaves her distraught husband and their son Rob to go into = a decline amid the squalor of the neglected house while her recovery = brings success in business to her husband, happiness to her daughter = Bobby in that same house, lovingly furnished and freshly decorated. So = far so good - but suppose Rob and Bobby were to meet? What then, indeed!
Various details begin to build up into a contradiction seemingly = impossible to resolve. The mixture is, however, cunningly stirred until = Rob and Bobby find themselves unexpectedly stuck in each other's = environment. Rob is now permanently with his (or rather Bobby's) mother, = and Bobby is the motherless one. With striking sleight of hand the = author adjusts the environments to the children and somewhat saucily = throws in alternative endings for good measure.
Hopefully, some enterprising film director will be introduced to the = scenario of When the Snow Falls and have fun illuminating it with all = the tricks available to the modern film maker. Learned philosophers may = lie awake at night wrestling with the possible consequences of = abandonment of the principle of non-contradiction but Michael Lawrence = is to be congratulated on having produced so outwardly attractive and = entertaining a can of logical worms.