Debbie, 18, lives at home on the farm in an Irish village with her Mum, and her Uncle Billy lives outside in a caravan. Debbie has just started her first year at Trinity College and commutes in from the farm. Wildly stepping out of her comfort zone, Snowflake follows Debbie’s journey throughout her first two semesters at college. Her newfound friendship with cosmopolitan Xanthe is an alternate universe to turbulent “family” life on the farm where Debbie not only seeks support from Uncle Billy but often needs to care for her mother, long suffering with mental illness. Snowflake offers an insight in to a variety of mental health conditions affecting numerous characters. From depression and anxiety to bipolar and suicide and moreover, the effects these conditions can have when ignored and left to spiral. Despite its depth and serious undertones, Snowflake is an easy and hopeful read, with strong character evolution. I longed to know more about the seashells and the power of dreams and really wanted that storyline to go further. On reflection though perhaps the fact it didn’t keeps the book a real and honest portrayal of mental health, keeping the book grounded and true rather than thriller-like in genre.
One of the only books I have read with such a variety of representation of different mental health issues within a functioning, everyday society and this needs applauding. Given that 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health issue at some point in their lives very few books represent this.

Eighteen year old Debbie White grew up on a farm in rural Ireland with her Mum and her Uncle Billy. Billy lives in a tiny caravan in the garden and fills his days tending to cows and knocking back whiskey. Her mother, Maeve, is a writer, whose whole life revolves around recording her dreams, which she believes are prophecies. Starting her studies at Trinity in Dublin, Debbie has a difficult time trying to balance her new student life of drinking and parties, with her ecclectic life family life on the farm.

This book was an absolute delight! I was immediately invested in the characters and was particularly intrigued by Debbie's relationship with her family. Despite not being a tradional family dynamic, it is one that seems to work. Each of them is complex, imperfect but so endearing. I also enjoyed her college friends, Nealon paints a realistic picture of what starting higher education is and the anxieties that come with those changes.

I particularly like the dreams, an insight into Debbie's subconscious and how that affects her waking thoughts and feelings. It's is a honest and raw portrayal of mental health struggles and the stigma one might feel surrounding getting help.

The story has a wonderful arc, with a hopeful and satisfying ending. The prose is fresh, with short, captivating chapters that keep the story moving at a nice pace. The book felt unmistakably Irish and modern, I can see this being popular with fans of Sally Rooney. All in all, an absolutely astounding debut, I can't wait to read anything and everything Nealon writes in future.

A massive thank you to @netgalley and the publishers for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review

3.5 stars

This book is completely different to anything I've read. I don't even know how put it in words. It is captivating and weird and beautiful at the same time. It explores many issues: mental health, family, relationships, growing up and leaving home. I particularly enjoyed how the author approached the issue of mental health - showing that it is a very different and personal experience. While the book was heavy to read at points, the writing is funny and gentle.

I was a bit unsiatisfied with how the story resolved in the end. I think the author spent a lot of time building the problems and really diving into each character's background and then in the end it all tidies up too quickly and neatly in my opinion.

Overall, I think it is definately a book worth reading, it focuses on mental health and disacovering yourself. It also explores in detail how life on an Irish dairy farm is, which was definately a plus for me!

This is a really difficult book to write a review of. To me is was a very disjointed story of three members of the same family who are all affected things from their past. Their lives do entwine with each other but not in any coherent way. To me it would have been much better had their been a real plot to the story. Not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination but a little to confusing for my liking

I really enjoyed this book. I've a soft spot for coming of age stories especially where young women are concerned, and this one is a good one,

We meet Debbie. a young woman embarking on the adventure of going to Trinity in Dublin. She's grown up in the sticks on a dairy farm (a 'culchie' - country bumpkin as google tells me!) and feels like a fish out of water. We follow her journey as she starts to feel more comfortable in her skin, in her family, with her friends. In particular, we get a glimpse into the mental health problems that have plagued her mother for years, and watch her slowly start to heal after tragedy.

I liked Debbie. I'm not Irish, but I recognised in her the more universal experience of going to a big university, away from family and feeling like you know nothing! I enjoyed her interactions, it felt really real to me and the story had a lovely flow to it. This book just felt like real people living their lives, real and genuine and self-centred. The only part of the book I didn't like is the title!

Thanks very much for the opportunity to read this NetGalley, I really enjoyed it and would like to read more from this author.

Now I've had the day to think about it....this book was fine.
I don't know, maybe I'm missing something but yeah, not a favourite for me.

Snowflake is like the combination of Sally Rooney and the Aisling series, with added unexplained magical realism (maybe?) and more mental illness.

The characters and atmosphere? Brilliant....but something just didn't connect for me. We never got too into the characters for this to be so character focused, I needed more. Perhaps a re-read of the final version is needed once published, but this just fell so flat. I'm disappointed that this wasn't for me, but lots of people will (and from previous reviews have!) connect with the characters and story more than I did. The depiction of mental illness is really good, and realistic - the story came from the authors own experience with depression and mental illness. So with that said, I think because I had very different experiences with my mental illness I didn't connect as much as others might...

This is not a very good review, but it's because I can't put a finger on what I didn't like. It was a bad book....just the connection to the main character wasn't there for me - which is needed in a book like this. However, the unapologetic Irishness did work for me and was part of the established atmosphere of the book.

I look forward to what Nealon writes in the future, and I am upset that this book didn't connect with me.

Original and heartbreakingly truthful, this is a breath of fresh air. Debbie White has a mad mother and an eccentric uncle and is starting at Trinity college Dublin where she knows she won’t fit in. She does make friends and she finds her way of fitting in only to realise that everyone is trying to cope, not all families are normal and sometimes it takes courage just to survive. A great new voice and writing to savour.

I’m not sure how I felt about this book... I liked the narrative voice and the coming-of-age aspect. The writing is tender with a good amount of harsh reality in it. However, I found it hard to connect with the book for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on. I appreciated it, but I didn’t love it.

A really beautiful tale of not quite leaving home and the trials of become urban and sophisticated all whist dealing with your strictly rural and slightly less ordinary family set up. Heartfelt and emotionally complex this is a great debut novel and I look forward to more.

I really enjoy the voice and the the style. Funny and detached with a great sense of place. I'm not sure what makes this book stand out but it certainly does. It feels very fresh.

“We look at the sky as though it depends on us to hold it up there”

Snowflake is the story of Debbie who lives on a dairy farm in Ireland with her mum, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy.
At the offset, Maeve seems all kinds of eccentric, Billy lives in a caravan in the back garden and Debbie is about to head to Trinity College in Dublin.

The more I read, the more the characters seemed to unravel. It is a story about growing up, finding where you fit and about feeling comfortable in your own skin. With themes of mental health, love, family, friends and community.

I really enjoyed Snowflake. It took me back to my teenage brain, which I guess made me feel somewhat uncomfortable at times, but I still enjoyed the book! I loved Debbie’s sense of humour. The short chapters allowed me to fly through it. I confess that I struggled a little with the dialect but that didn’t take anything away from the story. Snowflake is honest, raw, tragic, heartbreaking, but also laugh-out-loud funny.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Manilla Press for allowing me to read this book.
#NetGalley #LouiseNealon #ManillaPress

I would say this is definitely my kind of fiction, modern and unique with a strong focus on mental health. For me it felt a like a mix between Sally Rooney and The Discomfort of Evening, maybe because it's set in Ireland on a farm? But also the writing style and content

Snowflake took my breath away in terms of the accuracy with which it depicts the experiences of an 18 year old from a rural county beginning life at university in Dublin. This is the story of Debbie who lives on a dairy farm in Kildare with her mum Maeve and uncle Billy. She has previously only been to Dublin on day trips with her uncle and finds life as a student commuting daily to college somewhat overwhelming. She has felt like an outsider throughout school and at college struggles with the work, meeting people from different backgrounds, making friends and managing her money. Her insecurity and naivety on nights out result in her drinking too much, kissing random boys and blacking out. At home her mum and uncle are struggling with mental health issues which Debbie fears she has inherited. The writing is superb in this debut novel! Everything feels so real and genuine; from Debbie’s conflicting feelings and jealousies towards her first proper friend to the dynamics of a rural village pub. The descriptions of the nuances of Irish life were so recognisable to me I could not believe that someone could depict them so accurately. This was a slow read for me as I wanted to savour every line. I can’t wait to read what Nealon writes next.

snowflake is the story of 18 year old debbie as she steps away from her "normal" life at home on the farm in the middle of the countryside, to start college in dublin.

debbie comes from a very fractured and colourful home life, which very much affects the way she interacts with others, and especially the way she people pleases anyone she comes into contact with, at the detriment of her mental wellbeing.

i could really relate to debbie; the way she felt and therefore acted. i really felt sorry for her at many points, and just wanted someone to give her a great big hug, and tell her that everything would be ok.

the breakthrough, was beautiful, emotional, and so well written - you could really see how free debbie finally felt.

this was a truly beautiful coming of age novel.

A coming of age novel but not in the traditional sense (though begs the question of what the 'traditional' is). Nealon's novel offers a steong female lead and follows her as she navigates University and the merging of these two worlds.

At times the book seemed to lose itself and some plot points or characters meet a sudden end that feels unfinished. With that in mind, however, it was book that I devoured. The narratives woven throughout around mental health, and relationships provided dark humour and harrowingly sad moments. Then, on top of all of this, Nealon provides the reader with a strong sense of Irish culture and identity, and this community feel of the novel I think is one of its greatest selling points.

Relateable (in part) to the end. A wonderful debut.

A poignant and tender story with characters who will intrigue and amuse you. So beautifully written, it takes you alongside Debbie as she steps away from the dairy farm and into life at Trinity College full of new experiences and friendship.

If a book is set in Dublin, you best believe I’m going to read it. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. There’s just something about Dublin that draws me in.

Set between the dairy farm where 18-year-old Debbie has grown up and Trinity College in Dublin, Snowflake is a charming account of the eccentricities and dynamics of family life and leaving home for the first time. As Debbie moves between the isolated countryside and the hustle and bustle of the Irish capital, she dips her toes into adulthood and begins to navigate her new double-sided life – one of new, sophisticated friends, parties and one-night stands and another that focuses on her eccentric mother Maeve who believes her dreams are prophecies and Debbie’s Uncle Billy who lives in a caravan in the garden with whisky as his vice.

Both sides of her life bring with them drama and mental health struggles that are unpacked throughout the novel in a way that is sensitive, raw and honest. Nealon’s storytelling is easy to follow and exactly the sort of book that I want to pick up after a long day to help me unwind. It’s a story of finding yourself in a world that constantly feels like you’re being judged, recognising how important family is to your growth and discovering the people and parts of your life that are worth fighting for.

This is the rather interesting story of 18 year old Debbie, her uncle Billy and her rather eccentric mother Maeve. We meet Debbie as she is transitioning from college to University and contemplating leaving the dairy farm she was bought up on for life in the exciting city. Finance forces Debbie to live at home and travel in to University everyday so she finds it a challenge to flit between her new sophisticated friends and her somewhat unusual family.

The book deals with a range of mental health issues while keeping it's sights firmly focused on depression and how it effects all of the characters in different ways - including the super confident Xanthe. All of the characters have to overcome their own struggles, or at least learn to live with them.

I only gave this book a three because I felt that the characters were not as fully formed as they could have been. There didn't seem to be much in the way of development for some of them and I felt that some of the characters seemed a bit two dimensional.

Having said that, it was a book that I enjoyed reading and the story is really engaging.

Thanks to the publishers and netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Snowflake is a tender and kind novel that is tipped as the most anticipated novel of 2021. I would frame it as the novel we all need in our lives right now. In a time when so many tales heading into adulthood are so complex and filled with anger and fury, this novel shows that the first steps into adulthood can be confusing without necessary having to be menacing. Debbie is about to study at Trinity College in Dublin. She comes from rural Ireland where she has grown up in a farm. Debbie has complex issues at home with her mum and Uncle but throughout the novel we see fully formed characters. The warm nature in all the characters leads the way throughout despite facing harrowing circumstances. Debbie meets Xanthie, who in other contemporary novels may have led her astray of been portrayed as the wild friend, but that is never the case here and again when an character veers off, there is a guiding light bringing them back, all added in a subtle way that makes us warm to each interaction all the more.

This novel is the first I have seen to tackle issues such as death, addiction and self-abuse in such an articulate and sensible way. This novel doesn’t feel the need to raid through these issues in a confronting way, they sit in the room and are dealt with but with a human approach, it felt real as did the characters and its what makes it such a memorable and engrossing read.

Snowflake tells the story of Debbie, her uncle Billy and her gloriously imaginative Mam, Maeve. Like Mam and Billy, Debbie is brighter than bright. Billy lives in a caravan and tells stories of Greek myths and stargazing. Mam has a room called the Tabernacle filled with poems and talismans. Debbie goes to Trinity, Dublin and meets Xanthe and the two of them navigate pubs, boys and essays. Themes of coming of age, mental illness, identity and belonging collide with characters who sparkle with originality, and gleam with hope despite their flaws and their pasts.. Louise Nealon creates a rich visual landscape of Dublin and the farm where Debbie lives as well as a rich interior landscape of dreams and reality. A lovely novel, deftly woven and full of hope.