The Weight of Snow and Regret

For over 100 years, no one wanted to be sent to the Sheldon Poor Farm. By 1968, no one wanted to leave.

Amid the social turmoil of 1968, the last poor farm in Vermont is slated for closure. By the end of the year, the twelve destitute residents remaining will be dispatched to whatever institutions will take them, their personal stories lost forever.

Hazel Morgan and her husband Paul have been matron and manager at the Sheldon Poor Farm for the past 20 years. Unlike her husband, Hazel refuses to believe the impending closure will happen. She believes that if she just cares deeply enough and works hard enough, the Sheldon Poor Farm will continue to be a safe haven for those in need, herself and Paul included.

On a frigid January afternoon, the overseer of the poor and the town constable from a nearby town deliver a stranger to the poor farm for an emergency stay. She refuses to tell them her name, where she came from, or what her story is. It soon becomes apparent to Hazel that whatever the woman's story is, she is deeply ashamed of it.

Hazel fights to keep the stranger with them until she is strong enough to face, then resume, her life—while Hazel must face the tragedies of her own past that still haunt her.

Told with compassion and humor, The Weight of Snow & Regret tells the poignant story of what it means to care for others in a rapidly changing world.

Praise for The Weight of Snow and Regret

Elizabeth Gauffreau is a masterful storyteller, mining the historical with fictional finesse; her characters are rendered with touching authenticity. The Weight of Snow and Regret is a deeply human tale told in unwavering lucid prose, with dialogue remarkably intuitive and telling. Tender and unforgettable. — Sandra Tyler, author of award-winning The Night Garden: Of My Mother, Blue Glass and After Lydia; editor-in-chief of The Woven Tale Press.

The author deftly weaves together the disparate stories of a newly arrived woman, Claire, the assortment of people already living at the farm, the town officials, and most importantly, the caretakers, Hazel and Paul. Each character is richly developed. —Patricia Thrushart, author of Inspired by Their Voices: Poetry from Underground Railway Testimony

In this novel, Gauffreau writes a compelling historical fiction narrative of the conditions of people in the Sheldon Poor Farm in Vermont in 1968. She not only captures their specific lives but also the zeitgeist of that stormy time. This book stands along John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead in its power and demonstration of the lives of people whom the larger society often either ignores or forgets. —Charles French, Professor of English

The novel’s settings in place and time are vivid, as are the voices of the residents, young, elderly and disabled. In keeping with the cultural revolutions of the time, their bond is captured by blues musician Lightnin’ Hopkins, who first emboldened Claire to leave her Southern white, merchant-class life to find herself: ““The blues dwell with me every day—every day, y’understand?—so every day I gotta tell the world I got the blues. Folks listen to Po’ Lightnin’ play, and it’s like he speaking what’s in their heart, and after a while, it pacify their mind.” As will this generous novel, in conviction, honesty, and craft. —DeWitt Henry, author of THE MARRIAGE OF ANNA MAYE POTTS

Libraries can consider The Weight of Snow and Regret an important study in changing times, poorhouse history, and a woman who chooses to run away from family obligations. Replete with touches of regret, new understanding, and social consciousness, The Weight of Snow and Regret is a powerful rendering of psychic and social force that is hard to put down and not easily forgotten. It’s highly recommended reading for those who seek novels steeped in old regrets and new possibilities.

—Diane Donnovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Review

About the Author

Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. She holds a B.A. in English from Old Dominion University and an M.A. in English/Fiction Writing from the University of New Hampshire. Her fiction and poetry have been widely published in literary magazines and several themed anthologies. She has published two photopoetry collections: Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance and Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband.

The Weight of Snow and Regret

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