Before the first snow falls

Seven-year-old Clara sits by the living room window every day, hoping to catch a glimpse of her older sister at any moment. Rose, a defiant teenager, ran away from home without a word and has not been heard from for weeks. Clara finds solace only in her cat, Moses, whom she takes care of because his owner, Mrs. Orchard, went to the hospital a few weeks ago and still hasn' t returned.

Thirty-something Liam Kane moves into Mrs. Orchard' s house next door. He is new in town, just divorced, and currently unemployed. Clara is surprised by his arrival, but at the same time it also unsettles her. Not even a few hours after his arrival, a police officer knocks on Liam' s door. Is he suspicious of something?

Elizabeth Orchard, whose life is slowly coming to an end, recaps the most significant moments of her life in the hospital. Gradually, the mysterious relationship she had with the newly arrived stranger is revealed.

The captivatingly poetic novel Before the First Snow Falls is told from three different points of view: from the perspective of Clara, Mrs. Orchard, and Liam Kane. Their stories intertwine and they themselves get under the reader' s skin: they reveal suffering and sorrow, reproaches, but also love, which connects everyone with both those to whom they are bound by family ties, so with those, which they chose. Before the First Snow Falls is a masterful, thrilling, but above all, kind story from one of the best storytellers of our time.