The Snow Garden: A Novel - Hardcover

Rice, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786868139 ISBN 13: 9780786868131

Publisher: Miramax, 2002

Synopsis

Christopher Rice became a publishing sensation overnight with his rst novel, A Density of Souls. The stunningly wide-ranging coverage included appearances on The Rosie ODonnell Show, MTVs Real World, and The Early Show, print features in everything from USA Today to The Advocate, and a website deluged with e-mails from fans. One of the most original writers of a new generation was launched. His new novel, The Snow Garden, is a story of murder and sexual menace on a snowbound university campus. When a respected professors wife drives to her death in an icy river, an illicit relationship between a student and his teacher threatens to come to light, and within days Atherton University is the scene of escalating speculation and intrigue. Another death emerges from the shadows, and the connections between the two accidents begin to look uncomfortably close. As in A Density of Souls, Christopher Rice explores the dynamic within a tightly knit group of young people haunted by sexual memories and fears and driven by obscure desires. The Snow Garden casts this web of friendship and passion against the backdrop of a threat that grows darker as the novel proceeds. The result is a stunning new novel from an arresting talent.

About this title

About the Author:

Christopher Rice is the son of Anne Rice, the novelist, and Stan Rice, the poet. He lives in Los Angeles. The Snow Garden is his second novel.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

PROLOGUE

Inverness Creek

Groping at the icy tree trunks and pushing branches from his face, he followed the sound of water flowing against the ice until it brought him to the edge of Inverness Creek. The haggard elms stood in regiments along the sloping banks of ice-slick mud. Veils of snow danced on contrary gusts of wind before vanishing into ice punctuated by sudden black pools of creek water. The music of Fraternity Green was an eerie, distant suggestion far behind him. Bursts of drunken laughter and the delighted squeals of young women, underscored by the bass thud of a stereo, barely filtered through the thicket of trees to where he stood, steadying himself on a branch, staring down at Pamela Milford.

She was lying facedown on a sheet of ice that bobbed in the struggling current, her blonde hair fanned forward from her head. A few strands draped the side of her face where her cheek puffed against the upward press of the ice, the corner of her mouth open slightly as if she was trying to draw breath. One arm was pinned beneath her chest; the other was frozen in midreach for the far bank. Her right leg shot outward at an awkward angle from her body. A miniature geyser erupted around the toe of the boot on her left foot, water spilling over the top of the ice, a puncture that revealed the frailty of the sheet she lay on.

From this distance, the red trail extending out from her neck could easily have been mistaken for blood. He knew better.....

About this edition

• Publisher: Miramax
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0786868139
• ISBN 13: 9780786868131
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 406