And that's definitely the case with Matthew Higgins' first novel, Seeing Through Snow. Hot-off the press, the eye-catching cover photo of three kids in period clothing standing on wooden skis provides more than a hint about the setting for the book — the once thriving former gold mining town of Kiandra in the Snowy Mountains.

"It was Australia's highest town for a long time, completely snowed-in during winter and cut off from the rest of the world, and kids learnt to ski as soon as they walked," explains Higgins, who dug up the circa 1906 photo from the National Library's Collection.

"I'd seen the photo reproduced in Klaus Hueneke's book Kiandra to Kosciusko (Tabletop Press, 1987) and thought it just suits this story perfectly," reveals Higgins whose novel tells, in first-person, the remarkable life-story of Les Leong, who was born in a blizzard in Kiandra in 1891 and adopted into a Chinese-Australian family who ran Kiandra's general store.

As a Canberra-based award-winning historian, Higgins is well-known for his informative non-fiction titles including Skis on the Brindabellas (Tabletop Press, 1994) and Rugged Beyond Imagination: Stories From an Australian Mountain Region (National Museum of Australia Press, 2009), but is quick to point out that Seeing Through Snow is purely a work of fiction.

"I wanted it to be very clear that it's a novel, I didn't want people to think it was a history of Kiandra," explains Higgins, who ensured the words "a novel" appear prominently on the front cover.

Despite this disclaimer, Higgins' work as an historian with many of Australia's leading national cultural institutions has clearly helped him to create the character of Les and his life, and it's obvious he couldn't help drawing on real-life events. These include the 1948 visit to Kiandra of Elyne Mitchell (of the Silver Brumby series of books fame) while making the first vehicle crossing of the Snowies with her husband Tom, and a yowie encounter (really!) inspired by the Webb brothers' famous report in the Queanbeyan Observer on August 7, 1903. Even Mick Jagger, who stayed at Kiandra's Palfrey Hotel, makes a brief cameo.

So what prompted an historian to branch out into the world of fiction? Higgins confesses that he "just wanted to give his imagination a bit more scope to roam because with history you are constrained by the facts; and sometimes it's nice to go beyond that and to let the stories play out."

The setting was an easy pick for Higgins who has skied and bushwalked in the Australian high country since he first visited Kiandra as a kid in the 1960s. "It's a place that has a lot of drama in both lifestyle of the people and its history," he says, citing other works of fiction set in the former gold mining outpost, including Hugh Capel's Kiandra Gold: A Tale of Love, Murder, Bushrangers and Gold (Ginninderra Press, 2003).

And to say Seeing Through Snow is full of high drama would be an understatement; the constant stream of winter storms which wreak havoc on Kiandra's tent village won't be the only events to send a chill up your spine. Les witnesses many misadventures and tragedies. In fact, with a string of drownings and mining accidents and an old bushie collapsing into a raging fireplace (I'll spare you the detail of what happens to his head), it's little wonder Kiandra ends up a near-ghost town by the last chapter.

Somehow, Les survives all the challenges of a harsh life on the windswept gold fields and in doing so he becomes increasingly aware of his environment, partly through his own experience and observations and partly through mixing with indigenous people.

Les eventually discovers that the more time he spends in the bush, the more he sharpens his skills and understanding of it. "There'd be times when I'd see some really interesting things. Like at night when a boobook owl would swoop back and forth between trees above our camp fire. It took me a while but I worked out that it was hunting insects and moths that the fire illuminated. Then I became aware how almost every time the first of us emerged from our huts early in the morning, a white cockatoo would screech from the big gums along the hill. He was obviously a sentinel, warning the flock of movement."

Towards the end of his 158-page journey, when Les reveals he "will die knowing that nature, the mountains and the wild are very fine things, and hoping that as this nation and its people continue on their way they will find a way to live in harmony with those things," your akubra-clad columnist immediately thought of the author.

No, not because Higgins is approaching the twilight of his own life (he has many more decades of solo skiing trips ahead of him), rather because he also is very much a person who believes in respecting the environment and using it only in accordance with that respect.

So grab a hot chocolate and curl up in front of the fire, this intoxicating blend of imagination and history makes for a great winter read.

Oh, and Higgins had better start searching for another engaging cover photo as I suspect this won't be his last foray into fiction.

THE BOOK: Seeing Through Snow can be purchased from the National Library of Australia bookshop, online from publisher Ginninderra Press and Canberra distributor Tabletop Press, or can be ordered through your local bookshop.

THE COVER: There is conjecture about just who took the cover photo – whether it was Charles Kerry or Charles Plumb, but regardless of the photographer, it certainly engages readers and makes them wonder about its origins.

DON'T MISS: Professor Peter Stanley, of UNSW Canberra, will launch Seeing Through Snow at 6pm on Wednesday, September 6 at the National Library of Australia. The event is free (including refreshments) but bookings are essential on 62621424 or www.nla.gov.au/bookings. As September 6 is Indigenous Literacy Day, the NLA will be donating a portion of its launch proceeds to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation

LOOK OUT FOR: Each chapter is illustrated by a sketch which Higgins reveals "began with one sketch to impart a style motif to the book, but soon grew to all 43 chapters". My personal favourite is the bee hive-style school at Kiandra which is based on the innovative design of the town's real former schoolhouse.

EXPLORE: Kiandra is located in Kosciuszko National Park. It's on the Snowy Mountains Highway halfway between Tumut and Cooma. It's about 2.5 hours' drive from Canberra via Cooma. Today it is very much a ghost town and most buildings have either burned, succumbed to the harsh alpine conditions or been demolished when Kiandra was incorporated into what is now known as Kosciuszko National Park

DID YOU KNOW? Kiandra was home to Australia's first ski club, formed in 1880. Skiing was introduced into the area by Scandinavian goldminers who came to Kiandra during its short-lived gold rush in 1860.

Degree of difficulty: Medium

Congratulations to Terry Sheales of Melba who was first to correctly identify last week's photo, above, as the Junior Farmers' War Memorial which is located in Valour Park, off the Federal Highway, in Watson. It was "an easy one" for Sheales as he "was present at the unveiling of the original memorial by Brian Chaseling, a World War II veteran, back in 1968". The photo was taken by Glenn Dando and sent in by Christopher Jobson of Monash who reports it's "one of a number of generally unknown war memorials located here in Canberra".

According to Jobson, "the memorial was erected by the Junior Farmers' Club NSW to honour the young Australian farmers who died serving their country in both The Great War (1914-1919) and the Second World War (1939-1945)".

The boulder in the centre of the memorial area carries two bronze plaques.

One describes the memorial's dedication and the other carries the club's motto: "I Aspire, I Achieve".

CONTACT TIM: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick.