Lettie Peppercorn lives in a house on stilts near the wind-swept coast of Albion. Nothing incredible has ever happened to her, until one winter"s night. The night the Snow Merchant comes. He claims to be an alchemist -- the greatest that ever lived -- and in a mahogany suitcase, he carries his newest invention. It is an invention that will change Lettie"s life -- and the world -- forever. It is an invention called snow.