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A Northern Light

By Jennifer Donnelly

(14)

| Audio CD | 9780807217870

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Book Description

Mattie Gokey has a word for everything. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories.
The fresh pain of her mother's death. The burden of raising her sisters while her father struggles over his brokeback fContinue

Mattie Gokey has a word for everything. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories.
The fresh pain of her mother's death. The burden of raising her sisters while her father struggles over his brokeback farm. The mad welter of feelings Mattie has for handsome but dull Royal Loomis, who says he wants to marry her. And the secret dreams that keep her going--visions of finishing high school, going to college in New York City, becoming a writer.
Yet when the drowned body of a young woman turns up at the hotel where Mattie works, all her words are useless. But in the dead woman's letters, Mattie again finds her voice, and a determination to live her own life.
Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, this coming-of-age novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original.

Critics

  • A Northern Light By Jennifer Donnelly

    Once kids hit the age of 13, they seem to be stuck between different worlds. They're still children, but they wish they were adults. They want to be trusted, but often act impulsively. Their reading, appropriately enough, is just as unpredictable as ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

  • Book Review: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

    A Northern Light is actually two parallel stories, following sixteen year old Mattie Gokey as she struggles to follow her dreams, beyond her harsh, bleak reality. In 1906, Mattie works as a maid at the Glenmore, an upscale hotel on the banks of Big M ... (read full critics)

    thebooksmugglers published on Tue, 14 Sep 2010

2 Reviews

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  • this is an awesome book that is set in 1906! there's romance, murder, and many details. this is one book that is unlike all others, you got to put yourself in the shoes of Matt Gokey and imagine you are going though he difficulties.....based on a true story.

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    always <3 jhutch [[-Onie-]] said on Aug 4, 2007 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

  • I enjoyed this book a lot. It combined historical fiction and a mystery. It is even based on a true story. Mattie, a young woman, desires to educate herself in a time that women just don't do that. She has an outstanding role model in her teacher and a very good friend, Weaver, as guides and mentors ... (continue)

    I enjoyed this book a lot. It combined historical fiction and a mystery. It is even based on a true story. Mattie, a young woman, desires to educate herself in a time that women just don't do that. She has an outstanding role model in her teacher and a very good friend, Weaver, as guides and mentors. I like how Donnelly uses words that the reader might not know and ties them in with the characters learning as well. Every other chapter or so is titled with Mattie's word of the day. I also enjoyed reading about Weaver and Mattie's word duels. They pick a word, then each has to think of synonym for that word. They would go back and forth until one of them couldn't name a synonym.I don't know that any YAs have read this book. I think it is well written, however, I don't think it has much appeal for teen readers unless they have a special interest in historical fiction.Quotesp. 68 The Fulton Chain Floating Library is only a tiny room, an overeager closet, really, belowdecks in Charlie Eckler's pickle boat. It is nothing like the proper library the have in Old Forge, but it has its own element of surprise. Mr. Eckler uses the room to store his wares, and when he finally gets around to moving a chest of tea or a sack of cornmeal, you never knew what you might find. And once and a while, the main library in Herkimer sends up a new book or two. It's nice to get your hands on a new book before everyone else does. While the pages are still clean and white and the spine hasn't been snapped. While it still smells like words and not Mrs. Higby's violet water or Weaver's mamma's fried chicken or my aunt Josie's liniment.What a great description! I love the way she describes the new books.p. 93 I have read so many books, and not one of them tells the truth about babies. Dickens doesn't. Oliver's mother just dies in childbirth and that's that. Bronte doesn't. Catherine Earnshaw just has her daughter and that's that. There's no blood, no sweat, no pain, no fear, no heat, no stink.Writers are damned liars. Every single one of them. Mattie's friend, Minnie is having a baby. I can definately relate to Mattie's description of child birth. I think the last sentence sums up nicely why I question sometimes whether or not I want to go through the labor!

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    SheReads said on Mar 6, 2007 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

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