Sisters of the Snow

Who is S. K. Tremayne? Why haven’t I read more books by this author? Where has this author been all these reading years? Just a few pages into The Ice Twins and I was already asking myself these questions. I would have tried to find out more but I was absolutely unable to pry myself off reading. The questions would have to wait. Atleast till I completed this terrifyingly atmospheric book which had me in a pincer-like grip and refused to let go!

An addictively compelling novel that expertly walks the tight rope between supernatural suspense and psychological thriller, The Ice Twins will keep you reading late into the night cos’ once you get in, there is no getting out till it is all over.

The plot focuses on the bereaved Moorcrafts’, Angus and Sarah, who have recently lost a daughter. The identical ‘ice’ twins (nicknamed so because they were born on the coldest forstiest day of the year), Kirstie and Lydia, have never known a life without each other, from the time they were in their mother’s womb till 6 year old Lydia falls off to her death from the balcony of their grandparents’ home. Before long, Kirstie starts to behave strangely and insists she is Lydia.

'Why do you keep calling me Kirstie, Mummy? Kirstie is dead. It was Kirstie that died. I’m Lydia.'

It’s not just what Kirstie says that throws Sarah into confusion. Even the family dog Beany behaves with Kirstie as he would with Lydia. I could actually feel goosebumps as the creepiness factor gained ground with Kirstie’s eerie mannerisms and talk and then kept building up relentlessly.

Which twin died? Is it Kirstie who is alive or Lydia? Did the parents make a mistake in identifying the child who died? Or is this just a troubled twin’s way of keeping her sister alive in memory?

An already disintegrating marriage coupled with Kirstie’s strange conviction of being Lydia convince Angus and Sarah to move from London to Scotland. With Angus fired from his job due to excessive drinking, and Sarah randomly doing freelance work, there is nothing to hold them back from starting afresh. Angus has recently inherited his grandmother’s cottage on Eileen Torran, an inner Hebrides island, and going to live in this ethereally beautiful locale seems to the panacea for all their pain. But, life rarely turns out as planned. Isolated from everyone and all alone on this island with no other inhabitants, the problems aggravate for all three family members.

The held-by-a-thin-thread relationship between Angus and Sarah, married for over a decade, begins to unravel rapidly and their resentment, anger, and hatred for each other takes a deadly turn. Meanwhile Kirstie is teased mercilessly in her new school by the other children who call her Bogan (gaelic for ghost) and her obsession with Lydia takes a spectral form with whom she spends time talking and playing. Sarah is terrified by her daughter's behavior and also by what she is experiencing for it only adds weight to Kirstie's claims of Lydia's presence in their lives.

They are both here. They cannot both be here.

Why does Angus hate Sarah so much? Why is Sarah so distrustful of Angus? Is Lydia giving company to Kirstie even after dying? Is the island making it easier for one twin to be with the other?

‘The locals, they used to call Torran a thin place. That means a place where there are spirits-’ he chuckles into his glass- ‘real spirits, where the spirit world comes close.’

Isle of Skye- Image Source: Wikipedia

Or is all this confusion just a manifestation of the disturbed minds of Angus, Sarah, and Kirstie?

I could not warm up to either Angus or Sarah, inspite of their suffering, probably because I found their actions quite ridiculous and also highly damaging for a sensitive child. Who goes to settle in the middle of nowhere with no human company (even if the place is breathtakingly beautiful) when their child is extremely lonely and going through tremendous pain and guilt?! Awful parenting. Robs me of any respect I could have had for the marital issues they were facing be they as strong as infidelity, betrayal, and negligence. If only they had behaved more responsibly towards their only child.

I wanted to reach out to Kirstie and take her away from her pre-occupied parents, the desolate and stranded island, and the ramshackle cottage. I wanted to protect this emotionally fragile little girl from the cruelty of other children who shunned and bullied her.

The biggest strength of the novel is in its ability to hold the reader in continuous suspense about whether it is a psychological thriller or a supernatural one. Like a chameleon, the book changes colors rapidly taking a different hue with increased frequency as we progress in the story. Is it all in the mind or is Lydia really haunting her family?

The language brings to vivid life the otherworldly beauty of Eilean Torran or Thunder island and the descriptions of atmosphere, weather, scenery, and terrain are worthy of belonging in the best travel magazines. 

Sometimes I find myself standing, paintbrush in hand, bucket of white spirit by my feet, open-mouthed- and then I come to, and realize that I’ve spent twenty minutes in silence, watching the rays of sunlight spear the tawny mountains, goring the darkened rocks with gold; watching the white clouds drift languidly, over the snow-chafed hills.

Eileen Torran is a lightly fictionalized version of Eilean Sionnach, an island just off Isle Ornsay, in Skye. And here is some interesting trivia- the lighthouse on the island (figures prominently in the book) was built in 1857, by David Stevenson, an uncle to Robert Louis Stevenson.

Which brings me back to my search for the identity of this author. As soon as I finished the book I googled up everything about S. K. Tremayne. I was delighted to find out that this is just another nom de plume for Sean Thomas (real name) who also publishes as Tom Knox.  As Tom Knox, he writes archaeological thrillers which I have enjoyed tremendously to the extent that I have read each of those books. It comes as no surprise that he happens to be an award winning travel writer too! Only someone with exceptional talent in describing places could have done such a wonderful job with the Scottish islands where most of the book is set.

The Ice Twins has enough twists and turns to give you a queasy stomach as it takes you on a roller roaster ride and blurs your ability to distinguish between what’s real and what’s imagined. Highly recommended to all those who appreciate a taut well-written thriller which keeps them guessing and frantically turning pages till they finally find relief in the truth.