A Northern Light
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly is a reprint edition published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2003, featuring 389 pages in English. This novel tells the story of sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey, who grapples with her aspirations of becoming a writer while navigating the challenges of her impoverished life in the early 1900s. Following the death of her mother, Mattie takes a job at the Glenmore hotel, where she becomes entangled in a mystery surrounding the drowned body of a guest, Grace Brown, and the letters that may hold the key to uncovering the truth behind her death.
Readers will find a rich blend of coming-of-age themes, family dynamics, and elements of mystery woven throughout the narrative. Set against the backdrop of the Adirondack Mountains in 1906, the story explores Mattie’s internal struggles and her quest for identity amidst societal expectations. The novel incorporates aspects of farm and ranch life, as well as the complexities of blended families, providing a nuanced portrayal of life during this historical period.
Official synopsis Publisher
Now with a fresh new look and introduction, comes Jennifer Donnelly’s astonishing, Printz Honor-winning debut–the story of a young woman’s coming-of-age and the murder that rocked turn-of-the-century America.
A Printz Award Honor Book
“A contemporary classic. Jennifer Donnelly is the master of historical fiction ” —Ruta Sepetys, New York Times best-selling author and winner of the Carnegie Medal
Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has a word for everything, and big dreams of being a writer but little hope of seeing them come true. With the fresh pain of her mother’s death lingering over her and the only out from her impoverished life being marriage to the handsome but dull local rich boy, Maddie flees from her home. She takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace’s drowned body is fished from Big Moose Lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder.
Set in 1906 in the Adirondack Mountains, against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, this Printz Honor-winning coming-of-age novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original.
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