The Snow Spider

On his ninth birthday young Gwyn Osian Roberts who lives on a remote hill farm in Wales receives five strange gifts from his grandmother Siân Phillips a piece of seaweed a yellow scarf a tin whistle a metal brooch and a small broken horse Gwyn offers the brooch to the wind and receives back a tiny silvery spider Arianwen the snow spider confirming that as his grandmother had already guessed he has inherited magical powers from his Celtic ancestor Gwydyon a powerful magician whose exploits are described in the fourth book Math Son of Mathonwy of the Mabinogion With the help of the snow spider Gwyn embarks on adventures involving other worlds of snow and silver as he attempts to solve the fiveyearold mystery of his sister Beths disappearance in a snow storm