History Literature / HandsHeldInTheSnow

* FramingDevice: The story begins with the framing device of a grandmother telling a story to a grandchild. The narrator usually disappears into the story, but sometimes makes side comments. [[spoiler:Said [[TwoAliasesOneCharacter Grandma]] is revealed to be Novella in the future!]]

* RomanticFalseLead: [[spoiler:Initially the main couple of focus is between L'Hime and Beatrice, which blossomed into a real relationship for the majority of the story. That is until that they are no longer romantically involved as of Chapter 65, due to Beatrice becoming a priest, of which requires her to leave Balarand. L'Hime's ''true'' romantic lead in Chapter 66 is finally revealed to be Lady Khara, the character who drives most of L'Hime's conflict arc in the story.]]

* WhamEpisode: Chapter 66 is the [[spoiler:start of Lady Khara's first physical appearance, which drastically changes the final ends of the story when she becomes fully engaged to L'Hime. It also marks Beatrice's real role as the RomanticFalseLead to L'Hime.]]

* WhamEpisode: Chapter 66 is the [[spoiler:start of Lady Khara's first physical appearance, which drastically changes the final ends of the story when she becomes fully engaged to L'Hime.]]

* RomanticFalseLead: [[spoiler:Initially the main couple of focus is between L'Hime and Beatrice, which blossomed into a real relationship for the majority of the story. That is until they break up during the final part of the story, due to Beatrice becoming a priest, of which requires her to leave Balarand. L'Hime's ''true'' romantic lead is revealed to be Lady Khara, the character who drives most of L'Hime's conflict in the story.]]

* RomanticFalseLead: [[spoiler:Initially the main couple of focus is between L'Hime and Beatrice, which blossomed into a real relationship for the majority of the story. That is until they break up during the final part of the story, due to Beatrice becoming a priest, of which requires her to leave Balarand. L'Hime's ''true'' romantic lead is revealed to be Lady Khara.]]

* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: The Grandma in the first page who is narrating is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:Novella Khara]] in the final chapter. It counts as a big twist and a LateArrivalSpoiler for newcomers as [[spoiler:Emi gets married to Novella as seen in Chapter 70 with Emi taking up the latter's surname.]]

** [[spoiler:Both Emi and Novella at the end of Chapter 68 are both seen dancing together, which signifies their eventual relationship as a married couple. It also counts as a major CharacterDevelopment for Emi as she is no longer resenting her engagement with her, starkly contrasting how she was resentful of her family for the same thing during the first half of the story.]]

* UnseenNoMore: [[spoiler:[[WhamEpisode Chapter 66]] marks the full appearance of Lady Novella Khara, who started off as TheGhost of the story despite being central to the story in terms of Emi's unwarranted [[ArrangedMarriage engagement]] that was done by her parents.]]

** [[spoiler:Both Emi and Novella at the end of Chapter 68 are both seen dancing together, which signifies their eventual relationship as a married couple. It also counts as a major CharacterDevelopment for Emi as she is no longer resenting her engagement with her, starkly contrasting how she was resentful of her family for putting her on an engagement with her.]]

** [[spoiler:Both Emi and Novella at the end of Chapter 68 are both seen dancing together, which signifies their eventual relationship as a married couple; and also CharacterDevelopment, as Emi is no longer resenting her engagement with her.]]

* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler:It is hard to discuss about the Grandma in the epilogue without mentioning the fact that she is Novella, a fact that recontextualizes everything about the story.]]

* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: The Grandma in the first page who is narrating is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:Novella Khara]]. It counts as a big twist and a LateArrivalSpoiler as [[spoiler:Emi gets married to Novella right at the end of Chapter 70.]]

* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: The Grandma narrator is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:Emi]].

* CanonCharacterAllAlong: [[spoiler:Grandma Em turns out to be Emi Khara (née L'Hime) in the epilogue chapter, which takes place 57 years later.[[note]]In actuality, the epilogue ''is'' the chapter in the present-day while the ''whole'' novel is a flashback story about Emi.[[/note]]]]

* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:Chapter 70 has a bombshell about the novel where Emi has ''already'' been married to Novella for over 57 years, with the "Grandma Em" name turning out to be Emi's true identity in the future. Beatrice is revealed to be DeadAllAlong after a tragic accident during the Great War.]]

* FramingDevice: The story begins with the framing device of a grandmother telling a story to a grandchild. The narrator usually disappears into the story, but sometimes makes side comments. [[spoiler:Said [[TwoAliasesOneCharacter Grandma]] is revealed to be Emi in the future!]]

* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler:It is hard to discuss about the Grandma in the epilogue without mentioning the fact that she is Emi, a fact that recontextualizes everything about the story.]]
* WhamLine: The very line the Grandma utters in Chapter 70 completely flips the heads of readers about her and literally the novel as a whole:
--> [[spoiler:As for Emi, well... I think you've figured her out by now. Yes, Grandma Em is the same girl from the story, what with her love of contraptions and that stupid Winter Ceremonies painting she'll never throw away. I guess when she called me "Novi" that must have finally given it away. You certainly know what happened to her, I imagine, so I don't have to explain.]]

* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:Chapter 70 has a bombshell about the novel where Emi has ''already'' been married to Novella for over 57 years, with the "Grandma Em" name turning out to be Emi's true identity in the future. Beatrice is revealed to be DeadAllAlong after

* FramingDevice: The story begins with the framing device of a grandmother telling a story to a grandchild. The narrator usually disappears into the story, but sometimes makes side comments.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Tia Knoll, the very rich and [[TheGadfly very sly]] nobleman, crossdresses in almost every appearance so far, but nobody comments on it much beyond curiosity.

** At the end of Chapter 24 and later in Chapter 25, Beatrice and Emi dance altogether during the party within the L'Hime residence.

* ArrangedMarriage: Emi L'Hime is engaged against her will to a noblewoman named Lady Khara, marking an extremely rare case of same-sex arranged marriage in fiction.

%% * DanceOfRomance: Their dance at Emi's winter party.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * DanceOfRomance: Their dance at Emi's winter party.

* LoveAtFirstSight:
->"Whatever Emi and Beatrice felt by meeting each other’s looks, it was no fleeting moment. Was it love at first sight? I wouldn’t say so. But… It was… something at first sight."
* MoeCouplet: Two cute characters get together. RomanceEnsues. Then... they get even cuter when they share a scene.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* PrimAndProperBun: Ms. Khami, and boy does she fit the character type.
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* ProperLady: Emi L'Hime subverts every notion of properness, probably on account of being a socially awkward brat half the time.