The Snowstorm

by Beryl Netherclift

For Caroline, Kit and Richard, as well as their dog, Chunky, the prospect of staying with Aunt Amethyst at Farthingales, her old house on the edge of the Devonshire moors, was an exciting one. As Caroline said afterwards, 'I don't know how it was but I knew at once something was going to happen through that door...' And something did when they discovered the antique paperweight, a snowstorm, on the library mantelpiece.

Farthingales Manor was fast falling into disrepair and Aunt Amethyst had to spend most of her time trying to maintain it. The children, though, could see that it was a losing battle and unless something happened soon Farthingales would no longer belong to the Faradays. It was the snowstorm that told them about the legendary Farthingales collection of antique coins, or rather it was through the snowstorm that they learnt about it, for the glass globe certainly possessed peculiar properties. Then the mysterious paperweight disappeared and the children began to learn about snowstorms of another kind.

Genres: Childrens, Time Travel, Fiction, Middle Grade, Mystery, Fantasy, Novels

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book as a child...I read it over and over. How exciting to go to stay with an unknown relative...the mystical 7th child of a 7th child, with the amazing name of Aunt Amethyst. In a spooky old house, rarely visited, with so much to explore and so many things not to be touched (which makes them SO worth being touched!)

I think I got this from one of those Scholastic book orders...might have been the Willy Whale book orders. I've always been a sucker for anything with "Ghost" or "Witch" in the title...this one was not at all scary, not at all malevolent, or a story of a "haunting." It's more of a time-travel story.

Engaging characters, fun plot to get lost in. I'm excited that I found my copy not to long ago, at age 46. And I'll read it again.

[Gina House · Rating 5 out of 5]

A joy to read! This magical story about two twin girls and their brother visiting Aunt Amethyst's decaying home in the country was full of comfort and adventure. Ms. Netherclift's writing style was truly enjoyable to read and I found myself noting many passages throughout the book. Though this story was not similar to Elizabeth Goudge's 'Linnets & Valerians', it still reminded me of that beautiful children's book. I fell in love with the descriptions of the manor house, the meals they ate together and the loyal almost-butler dog, Fauntleroy. Everything about this book sparkled like a brilliant January morning full of icicles and newly fallen snow. This will definitely be added as a yearly winter re-read to warm my heart and revive my spirits! Highly recommended!

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Caroline, Kit and Richard find themselves visiting their Aunt Amethyst in an English country house called Farthingales, they discover an old snow globe which takes them back in time. Using the snow globe, they befriend a boy who lived in the house in its prime, and by pooling their knowledge, try to recover the lost family fortune.

[LuAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book with all the elements of a mysterious, fun story--old house, magical snow globe, lost treasures, eccentric aunt people from the past and three children trapped on their own in a snowstorm.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolutely favorite book when I was a kid.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Copyright 1967. This is an old Scholastic book. They used to have book orders back in the 70s (I guess they still do!). I got this one probably in 4rth or 5th grade. A favorite reread. Definitely a tween story, but I enjoyed rereading it.

So, Caroline, Kit & Richard come to live with their great aunt Amethyst in spooky old Farthingales. This is in Devonshire, England. When I first read this story I was thrown by some of the English terms. Anyway, their parents dump 3 kids & a dog on an impoverished old lady who lives in the middle of no where with no money to feed said kids & dog. This is so they can go on a cruise to New York & then to Bermuda for 3 months.
The kids are fortunately well behaved & helpful. They have fun exploring the old house & discover a snow globe that apparently has time traveling abilities. They go back & meet Michael from 1836 & discover a mystery. If they can find some hidden treasure, they may be able to help Aunt Amethyst save Farthingales.
Enjoyable story, written in an intelligent manner. I recommend!

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans of C.S. Lewis's Narnia books and those who adore E. Nesbit's time-travel adventures will find themselves on familiar ground here. A solid effort, but not as great as the models upon which Beryl Netherclift so clearly based the story. Two quibbles. The magical house in which the story is set is named Farthingales. Farthingales? Who in his right Tudor mind would name a big house after a woman's bum roll (padded petticoat, to you)? Then there's the utter train wreck of a cover. If Farthingales is Tudor in origin, why is there a great honking Mansard roof plopped upon it? Mansards were either French baroque or Second Empire, never never seen on the age of the Henrys, Mary or Queen Elizabeth. And the child in Tudor costume, obviously drawn after a photograph of some contemporary kid? A minor, unnamed character gets the limelight? Why?

[Bluewaters · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite books as a child. The subject of the book is not ghosts, but time travel. Rereading it as an adult gives it a different perspective of course, but it still was a fun read. It brought me back to my childhood and made me remember how I became intrigued with time travel.

[Lyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book as a child. Am actually looking forward to tracking it down and rereading it as an adult. It introduced me to so many things.

[Danice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful! A total gem!

[Kenneth Speth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intriguing story for both young adults and adults.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caroline, Kit and Richard are sent rather hurriedly to their great aunt Amethyst's when their parents must go out of town for several months. Farthingdales is a huge but run down English manor house, and their aunt is having trouble keeping it from falling to bits. The children are intrigued by the house, especially when they find a snow globe with a replica of the house inside it-- a snow globe which is a portal into other times. They meet Michael, a boy from the early 1800s, as well as other people who lived in the house, and try to ask them about where treasures might be hidden so that their aunt can get some much needing funding to keep the house from ruin. Some of the people from the past are a bit shady, but when the children are stranded alone in the house when their aunt is caught up in a snowstorm, the ghosts of the past come through to save their aunt as well as Farthingdales.
Strengths: **SIGH** A teacher found a copy of this book in her classroom-- we have no idea where it came from. When she handed it to me, I knew that I had seen it reviewed at Charlotte's Library, and it was all I could do to not sit down right in the middle of the school day and read it! I ended up waiting until a Friday evening, when I curled up in my favorite chair with a cup of tea and some biscuits and just wallowed in the old timey world of this one. For some reason, I adore snowbound books, and this had the added attraction of an English country house, lots of food, and "delicious" feather beds. I was so happy with those things that I was completely oblivious to the writing quirks Charlotte mentioned.
Weaknesses: So much of what goes on would be completely incomprehensible to students today-- parents go off for three months because sea air is good for the father's health? Parents don't really tell aunt children are coming? House is falling to bits? There would be no point in putting this book in the library-- I guess I will just have to suffer and keep it for myself, in case I come down with a horrible case of flu and need some comfort reading!

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely children's book. The setting is an old mansion set on the English Moors. Filled with suspense and fun characters. Great for any age!

[Milley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I wish I had read this as a child. It was very creative having them time travel both directions and the villains were minor.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been awhile since I’ve read such a fun, adventurous, detective, haunting, and character fellowship book. Such a treat. ❤️

[Ann aka Iftcan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that I loved as a kid. I was a total bookaholic as soon as I learned to read, and I adored all things mystery. Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Bobsey Twins, Happy Hollisters, all of Enid Blyton's ten thousand or so mystery series. . . And of course the books that weren't part of series. When you added in a bit of fantasy, well, then I was in seventh heaven.

I recently was looking through the donated books at the library used book sale and found a copy of this old story and bought it to re-read. Now, as an adult, I can't believe what the adults let the kids do in that time, things that would get them hauled up on child endangerment charges nowadays, but that at the time I didn't think anything about. Of course, I don't know if that was because I was a kid or if it was just the different mind set of that time. Back when we were all younger and more innoucent. Before child predators made the evening news nightly, before serial killers were better known than their victims, a time that let children actually BE children.

Ah well, everyone looks back at their childhood and compares it to what their life is like as adults.

This story is set in the countryside of England (it doesn't specify WHERE exactly, or I didn't catch where) where the 3 children that are the main characters of this story are sent to stay with their great-aunt in the old "no longer stately home" of their mother's family. Their parents are being sent to Bermuda, partly for business and partly because of some kind of health issue that their father is having. While there, they fall in love with the family home and their great-aunt and have lots of adventures.

Even with the somewhat dated story telling, its a rollicking fun adventure that late elementary/early middle schoolers should enjoy. If for no other reason than to say, "wish MY family was that cool."

[Shawn Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in grade school and was captivated by it. Now, many years later, passages from the book called me like children called to Caroline, Kit, and Richard. This is a classic in my opinion and a first-rate read. You might say this was a fore-runner of things to come in fantasy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. i will be reading it with my grandchildren to turn them on the great adventures a well-written book can take you on.

[Dominika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved. I read this while lying in bed trying to take my mind of the worst sore throat I can ever remember having. And it was certainly a great help. So cozy and charmingly written. It reminded me a lot of L.M. Boston's Green Knowe books and Elizabeth Goudge's children's writing, though perhaps less nuanced and spiritually suggestive than those authors' works.

This would make for a great reprint for the New York Review Books Children's collection

[Joe Poturica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite book as a teen.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a child and own an old copy but the title is "the snowstorm" not snow ghosts.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story.

[JKR · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging time slip / treasure hunt story, with possibly the worst cover ever.

[Julianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so fun, everything I want in a middle grade book!

[Caro (carosbookcase) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It was a small glass globe set on a black marble base, and inside it ... Well, what was inside it?
“‘A house,’ said Richard, ‘with trees around.’ He lifted it carefully. “‘Crikey, it's heavy enough! I suppose it's a paperweight. . . . 'Gosh! What's happening?’ For white specks had suddenly started to whirl around the house, getting larger and larger till they almost hid it in a veritable snowstorm.”

I’ve been hoping to find a copy of The Snowstorm by Beryl Netherclift for a couple of years, so when my friend, Gina (@babsbelovedbooks on Instagram), gifted this book to me as part of an incredible Christmas present, I was beyond thrilled.

With so much anticipation over this one, I am pleased to say that The Snowstorm did not disappoint. I absolutely loved this book from start to finish.

One January, when their mother and father leave for a vacation in Bermuda, Caroline, Kit, and Richard, along with their springer spaniel, Chunky, go to stay with their Aunt Amethyst at Farthingales, a gabled old house in the English countryside. From the start, the children take to Farthingales, Aunt Amethyst and her loyal golden labrador, Flautleroy, so when they realize the house is oppressed by taxes and falling to ruin, they are keen to save the house and help their aunt keep her home.

The key may lie in the snowstorm.

There are two snowstorms in this book. One is inside of a glass paperweight and the other is outside. The question is, which one will prove to be more dangerous?!

“They plodded on, and stopped to call. Plodded on again, called again.
But still the snowstorm only mocked them and the bitter wind seemed to taunt them, blowing the snow in their eyes, numbing their fingers so that they dropped their sticks again and again. Now their consciousness of time, as well as of distance, was becoming confused. It already seemed as if they had been wandering for hours through the blizzard.”

This is a time slip novel and the snow globe, or snowstorm as the children call it, acts as a conduit to another time in the same house. And I refer to it as a “time slip” instead of “time travel” novel, because the children slip into the past without their control, just as the past slips through to their time too, as though there is nothing more than a veil between them.

Michael, a boy from the past, has more control of when they meet than the children in the present do, which I am sure was a conscious choice on the part of the author, as what went on in the past has a large part to play on the future of Farthingales.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys children’s adventure stories, old houses, and snowstorms! So… Tick, tick, tick, for me!

[Emma Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful winter read!

Three young siblings stay with their Aunt over winter in her dilapidated manor house in the English countryside, a home which she can ill afford to maintain let alone repair. During their stay the children do all they can to help their Aunt resolve this and one day discover a snowstorm paperweight in the library which has magical powers enabling them to step into the past of previous inhabitants. Along their adventures they meet their Tudor ancestors, discover family secrets and insights into how they can restore the family fortunes and ultimately the manor house.

A delightful story to ignite the imagination featuring Tudor time slips, decadent dinners and super snowstorms. This is a children's fiction but have to confess, both my daughter and I were equally excited to read the next chapter and then the next and the next...a real page turner!

Highly recommend...if you can get your hands on a copy. Unfortunately, as I write this review, "The Snowstorm" is no longer in print so a rummage in a secondhand bookstore or an online antiquarian seller will be required. (This book was published in the U.S. as "The Snow Ghosts" if you have difficulty in finding the English title of "The Snowstorm".)

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, as a kid I loved loved loved this book, which was then called The Snowstorm (much less spoilery). I recently reread it and was deeply disappointed to see the lack of magic. The plot hinges on three children (ages 11-12) lobbying to clean and redecorate a large house belonging to their rich but cash-poor aunt. Huh? And the adverbs! Holy mackerel, he snickered. The author seems to have written for a perceived audience of pre-teen Antiques Roadshow fanbois. It is starting to dawn on me that if they'd had Antiques Roadshow in my youth I would have enjoyed it. Anyway, if you read this as a kid and have fond memories of the spookiness, by all means live in your memories and do not re-read.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book, not the type I would normally have for my children or grandchildren since I try to stay away from the magical, superstitious or unreal. I like more true to life, character building stories. But it was a book that was hard to put down.

[Virginia Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Childrens book similar to Enid Blyton.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

B+. children's fiction, grade 4, England, mystery, Weekly Reader Book Club, mom's stash, keep

[Courtney Bocci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another quick, easy read and favorite from my childhood - my gateway to supernatural stuff!