Where Are the Snows by Maggie GeeLiterary Agent Website (Author Page) Amazon (UK) Amazon.com Telegram (ebook), 2012, first published in 1992
506 Pages
Christopher and Alexandra's passion for each other raises eyebrows and invites envy. This beautiful, blinkered couple do the unthinkable and run away from home, abandoning their two teenage children. Their sudden departure is an act of glorious wilfulness. Life in the countries they visit is nothing more than a backdrop to their love affair.
Fifteen years later, Alexandra is in remote Bolivia with a lover young enough to be her son and Christopher is in Venice, desolate and alone but for the pigeons and prostitutes. Tormented by past mistakes, neither can accept that they may never meet again.
Was it sex, or love, that mysterious thing they seemed to have more of than anyone else?
Where Are the Snows is a brilliant novel about two horrible people, Christopher and Alexandra. I really didn't like either of these characters. They are horrible, shallow people, doe-eyed in lust who think it's acceptable to abandon two children and fuck their way around the world. I also found them compelling and strangely fascinating. The more out of control and messy their lives got the better I felt. I liked the fact that the author uses different points of view including the abandoned daughter, Susy to narrate the story. The book is filled with light and dark, happy and sad moments. Alexandra is the perfect personification of the evil stepmother. Some awful things happen to the couple when their lust and unhealthy obsession with each other starts to fade. I couldn't help think they got just what they deserved. I never had any sympathy for them but my heart ached for the lives they destroyed. I loved this book.
