The characters of the novel "the snow Queen" are the brothers Barrett and Tyler, true residents of Bohemian new York, lonely and vulnerable, not ready to put up with losses, in an eternal search for the meaning of life and their vocation. They are still children — like the heroes of Andersen's fairy tale, they wander in an endless maze, trying to save themselves and their loved ones, not to betray anyone and not to freeze. A special role in the story of a city that looks like both a junk shop and an unknown planet, traveled up and down — and still full of secrets. From the scene of action, new York imperceptibly turns into an actor, and almost the main thing. Michael Cunningham, author of the famous "clock" and "House on the edge of the world", once again confirmed his fame as one of the best American novelists, a brilliant heir to the modernists. With a keen sense of modernity, Cunningham tries to capture its elusive essence, weaving the past and the future, the mundane and the mystical in a bright moment of insight.