a northern light by jennifer donnelly summary

The mystery derives from a true event, the death in 1906 of a young woman in northern New York. It's historical fiction, and it's a great coming of age story.Donnelly combines a mystery with a coming-of-age story about a girl choosing among family obligations, romance, and education. I've never attempted it, but I would imagine the story would be just as good if we had started at the beginning and ended at the end instead of jumping back and forth. We get to an interesting part and suddenly we switch time periods. This format seems to be real popular at the moment, but it just doesn't work for me. My biggest beef with this book was the back and forth between Mattie's past and the present. I found the letters that Grace leaves in Mattie's control. I have never read An American Tragedy, which is kind of a background story, but I generally know what happens. There is a great conversation between Mattie and her teacher about how Jane Austin is a liar :) I enjoyed the passages about reading (I copied several quotes down, returned the book to the library, and succeeded at deleting said quotes.

I hope he does go to law school and succeeds at his dreams (even if he is a fictional character.) It didn't necessary ring true that he would cause some of the problems he did, yet his desire for fairness and rightness is incredibly endearing. I wish he hadn't been so bull headed - he was a bright kid. Weaver, Mattie's best friend and the only black kid in the area, is also a fascinating character. Plus, there's handsome (but dull) Royal Loomis who would like to marry Mattie. Unfortunately, her mother has passed away, her brother has taken off, and Mattie feels like she needs to stick around and take care of her 3 sisters and their father. Mattie is a gifted writer, and her teacher encourages her to go to school in New York City. I saw this book at Half-Priced books and thought it looked interesting, so I put it on hold at the library. But Mattie’s worries and plans are cast into a cold light when the drowned body of Grace Brown turns up – a young woman who gave Mattie a packet of love letters, letters that convince Mattie that the drowning was no accident.

At her summer job at a resort on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondack mountains, she will earn enough money to make something of her life. It is 1906 and Mattie Gokey is trying to learn how to stand up like a man - even though she’s a sixteen-year-old girl.

A northern light by jennifer donnelly summary