Until the Robin Walks on Snow by Bernice L. Rocque

The Wigilia, a Polish Christmas Eve dinner, the fables told and so much more that is mentioned makes this a well-illustrated and rich feast for the historian and culturally interested.

Some authors might have been tempted to fill the book with lots of side plots to keep the reader’s attention but Rocque manages easily to hold the interest and the suspense up.Īs a plot driven writer and reader I was surprised to find myself so comfortable in the slow pace which this close up of the family and the surrounding community kept. It is a great challenge to write about one small subject matter such as the birth of a fragile baby.

The author describes precisely which steps the family and the doctors take to help the baby survive in the same way as she adds great detail and authenticity to the cultural background of that group: The house they live in, the cooking implements they use, the clothes and fabrics, the religious habits and celebrations – all of this creates an amazing insight and allows the reader to become part of the community and the times. Antoni is the smallest baby the doctor has ever seen – dead or alive – and his survival is in serious question. It is a meticulously researched and detailed account of the winter 19 in Norwhich, Connecticut, during which a group of mainly Lithuanian Immigrants fear for the live of a fragile baby. I found the relatively short novel had a lot more to it than Eastern European culture. Rocque grabbed my attention on the historical fiction forums on Goodreads and was intrigued by the Eastern European angle of the story, something that I have researched myself for my own books. “Until the Robin Walks on Snow” by Bernice L. Great storytelling, coupled with impressive genealogical research, family stories and local history, I would highly recommend this captivating story about love, hope and faith, and the unwavering determination of a family to sustain one fragile life. And for me, this family’s long battle to save their child symbolises that same long struggle many immigrants face when they arrive in a new country. The story follows the birth of a premature baby, Antoni in the early twentieth century, “the smallest baby the doctor has ever seen––dead or alive”, and continues with the family's struggle to save this 1.5lb child during an extremely cold winter.Īs well as precise details of how the family battles to save the baby, we also learn much about the culture, religion and celebrations of the author’s Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian ancestors, allowing the reader to truly feel a part of this 1920s community.

From the moment I opened my copy of Until the Robin Walks on Snow I was hooked by the author’s eloquent prose, as she creatively marries fact and fiction.

Until the Robin Walks on Snow by Bernice L. Rocque