A vividly lived-in portrait of a Boston scarcely removed from the American Revolution ... A pretty gentle and welcoming novel, infused with a sense of empathy that extends to secondary characters ... A stirring work of historical fiction that strives for both concrete detail and the rich contradictions of its specific time and place. If that setting is freezing cold, the end result is satisfying and even warm in its depiction of fantasy and authenticity, showmanship and, of course, magic.
Vividly captures the anxiety and superstition of the year without summer, when it snowed in June, and America was a young republic just beginning to grapple with slavery.
