First published 2022
Snow falls relentlessly in Washington's Cascade Mountains. Two trains sit trapped at the Wellington depot, buried under twenty-foot drifts that block all escape routes. Some passengers attempt to hike through the blizzard, but many remain aboard, waiting for rescue that never comes. Days stretch into a week as the storm refuses to break. The protagonist watches supplies dwindle and hope fade among her fellow travelers. Rain begins to fall, turning the snow heavy and unstable. Lightning splits the sky just after midnight on March 1. A massive wall of snow tears down the mountainside, hurling both trains 150 feet into the canyon below. Ninety-six people die in what becomes America's worst avalanche disaster. The girl must dig herself from the wreckage and find the strength to survive in the frozen wilderness. Her ordeal transforms not only her own life but changes how railroads will be built forever.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, american-history
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: survival, transformation
Setting: Washington, Cascade Mountains, Wellington
Period: 1910
144 pages · Paperback · Scholastic Inc.
Content warnings: death