SONGS OF WILLOW FROST: Eye Level With A Pair of Hearts

Songs of Willow Frostby Jamie Ford
Reviewed by Katie Presley

In the afterword to his new novel Songs of Willow Frost, Jamie Ford describes “beautiful melancholy” as his constant writing partner. His niche was built directly into the title of his stellar debut, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which is as much a career-spanning mission statement as it is a book title. Triumph and heartbreak aren’t quite as obvious in Songs of Willow Frost, but the lives of its characters are equally as driven by forces both bitter and sweet. Ford’s multi-generational tale opens on William Eng, an orphaned pre-teen living in Depression-era Seattle. He’s old enough to have vague memories of his mother, including the terrible night on which he was taken from her, but doesn’t know (and can’t get from the imposing nuns in charge of the orphanage) enough to know…