Joseph in the Snow, and The Clockmaker. Vol. I

It is Christmas Eve, and the snow is falling hard on a small German village. Little Joseph has vanished into the frozen forest where a wolf has been spotted, and his mother Martina is searching for him in the darkness, desperate and terrified. She is an unmarried woman who gave up other suitors to raise her son alone, believing no other man could love him as his father Adam does. But Adam is betrothed to another now, held captive by his own mother who refused to accept Martina as worthy of her family. As the village rallies to find the lost child, the secrets and sacrifices that have kept this family apart are laid bare in the snow. This is a tale of love that refuses to surrender to circumstance, of a mother's fierce devotion, and of the thin line between tragedy and redemption on the longest night of the year. Auerbach writes with the gentle intensity of a fairy tale, giving weight to small moments and letting the cold mirror what chars in the human heart. For readers who believe that stories can comfort as much as they can wound.