by Peter Hoeg
First published 1997
A child plunges from a rooftop to his death in the snow below. Smilla Jaspersen lives nearby and knows the boy. The authorities call it an accident, but Smilla reads a different story in the tracks left behind. Her Greenlandic mother taught her to understand snow in all its forms. The footprints tell her this was no accident. Smilla begins to dig deeper into what really happened. Her investigation pulls her into a web of secrets that someone desperately wants to keep buried. She must use every skill her Arctic upbringing gave her to uncover the truth. The case becomes personal as Smilla fights for justice for a dead child who cannot speak for himself.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, personal-stakes
Setting: Greenland
Period: 20th-century
410 pages · Paperback · Harvill Pr
Content warnings: child-death