A Northern Light

At 16, Mattie Gokey is already shouldering the burdens of an adult woman's life. Her widowed father needs her to help care for her three younger sisters, as well as help him run the farm so the family doesn't starve. Some days, it seems as if Mattie can't find a minute to herself -- and the work is never completed anyways.

But Mattie has a secret ambition. Thanks to her teacher and her best friend, she has long dreamt of being a writer. She keeps a journal, writing stories and observations, and has actually won a scholarship to college in New York City.

Like countless other girls before and after, Mattie is torn. She feels responsible toward her family, especially in light of her mother's death; but also yearns toward personal freedom. At the same time, Mattie is being courted by Royal Loomis, a neighbor whose ambitions aren't anywhere near her own -- but who is, nonetheless, interested in her. She's also witnessing her best friend Minnie's marriage and subsequent motherhood of twins, the good and bad that comes with being a wife and mother.

Which will win?

As Mattie prepares to make the most important decision of her life, she spends a summer working at an Adirondack hotel catering to wealthy vacationers -- among them Grace Brown, a young woman who is mysteriously found drowned.

Donnelly skillfully weaves the story of the fictitious Mattie with the real-life Brown, making it seem believable that the two young women could have crossed paths, even briefly -- and that their lives could have impacted one another's irrevocably.

This is an excellent book. Very easy to read. It made me laugh and cry.

Lovely, lovely, lovely. Mattie's intelligence and innate good sense, her curiosity for life and learning and her compassion shine through. Odd to say "lovely" about a book that grows around a murder, but it's true. And that this is a "first novel" is even better, because it means I can hope for more from this author.

Passages such as:

They leave things behind sometimes, the guests. A bottle of scent. A crumpled handkerchief. A pearl button that fell off a dress and rolled under a bed. And sometimes they leave other sorts of things. Things you can't see. A sigh trapped in a corner. Memories tangled in the curtains. A sob fluttering against the windowpane like a bird that flew in and can't get back out. I can feel these things. The dart and crouch and whisper.

I love Mattie's words, her love of reading and her questioning why life can't always have happy endings like books do.

I got this book several years ago, but have put off reading it until recently. Now I know just what I was missing! This story weaves a tale of a young girl whose life has been alterted so dramatically that she has forced to grow up faster than expected. I relates so much to Mattie throughout the story. I felt like I was sharing her every triumph and suffering from her every loss. This book is both dark and compelling, and is one of my new favorites.

Lest I get carried away with verbose praise, I just want to say that this is superb storytelling by Donnelly. Admittedly, I had no knowledge of the real murder of a Grace Brown. And though her letters were indeed heartbreaking, and at turns, horrific to read, I was more fascinated with the lives of Mattie and Weaver - two of the strongest characters I've ever encountered. After reading this novel, I found myself grateful that I, as yet, have not gone through the kind of back-breaking, and, dare I say it, near soul-defeating hardships the people in this novel had. But it takes masterful narration like that of Donnelly's to infuse hope, laughter, and spirit in the stories of those living in Eagle Bay.

Mattie is as real a person as one could get - loves her family so much yet still aware of all of their flaws, including her own, torn between making right by her loved ones as well as yearning to break free of a suffocating way of life, so young still in so many ways yet mature enough to realize the kind of dreams she can have. And Weaver makes me envious as well for his fearlessness and strength.

A Northern Light will take you to heights of teasing glimpses of a happy-ending for all, as well as to the downs of heartrending drama and seemingly endless trials in a small, simple town. Very provocative. Intensely memorable. A must read for all.