E L Ward

Snowdrop Fair: Nehama's Dream E L Ward

Publisher Marketing: Snowdrop Fair: Nehama's Dream recounts the dream of a young female (Nehama), who falls asleep on a cold, blustery night. In her dream, Nehama sees herself traveling in a land troubled by an unusual winter storm. Trapped by icy conditions, she and a group of travelers hatch a plan to counter their unfortunate situation by throwing a grand party. But bad things happen: a stranger appears and brings a phantom realm into the inn where the group stops for the night. As the dream progresses, Nehama unwillingly enters the stranger's world, one that exists in the shadow of the others' happy times; and she finds herself alone. She experiences mind-bending fear and meets subterranean horror. She struggles against forces of destruction and disorientation, almost losing her soul in the end. Were it not for the intervention of a mysterious but familiar form that ushers her into a far different realm, she would still be caught in her nightmare. A surprise ending to the dream leaves Nehama puzzled. As she awakens, she is eager to understand and apply the dream's meaning to her life. While this narrative verse dream follows the framework of alliterative dream visions of the Middle Ages, the author has modernized form and content, focusing on the feminine aspect of rebirth.