Review: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Summary-

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.

                                     Review-
I enjoyed reading this book, although the early 1900's time period where the story is set may seem boring to some. The plot was exciting and very interesting, and I could hardly wait to find what would happen next. Aspiring writers and book lovers would especially love this novel and could easily connect with the feelings of the main character, who also aspires to be a writer.

Publisher-Harcourt Children's Books
My Score: 4.5 Stars-Great Book
Reviewed by~Molly Maugans (Student at Franklin High School)
       Thank you to the Author for donating this book!