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A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
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A Northern Light (2003)

by Jennifer Donnelly

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2,5701382,153 (4.05)138
1900s (22) Adirondacks (42) Carnegie Medal (17) coming of age (81) death (18) education (27) family (25) farm life (26) feminism (21) fiction (222) historical (72) historical fiction (266) love (13) murder (112) mystery (137) New York (54) own (16) poverty (20) Printz Honor (37) racism (20) read (29) romance (30) teen (28) teen fiction (14) to-read (61) unread (15) writing (18) young adult (321) young adult fiction (32) young adult literature (20)
  1. 60
    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (InfectiousOptimist)
  2. 20
    Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Caramellunacy)
    Caramellunacy: Dairy Queen and A Northern Light are both about a young woman doing something unconventional (in Dairy Queen deciding to coach/play football)that leads her to reexamine her family relationships. There was a very similar feel to the two girls' reactions to their fathers and the burdens their rural lives placed on their dreams to do something different.… (more)
  3. 31
    The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (AmethystFaerie)
  4. 00
    Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (DimitraDaisy)
  5. 00
    Out of The Easy by Ruta Sepetys (FutureMrsJoshGroban)
    FutureMrsJoshGroban: Both are excellent stories about strong, intelligent young women desperately trying to leave their difficult home lives behind and get into college and a new life.
  6. 00
    Paper Quake: A Puzzle by Kathryn Reiss (InfectiousOptimist)
    InfectiousOptimist: Both books are young adult historical fiction novels that have a bit of mystery, and keep the reader drawn in from beginning to end.
  7. 00
    The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford (ElaMatisse)
  8. 00
    Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrissey (Mareofthesea)
    Mareofthesea: Both are haunting novels about making difficult decisions and trying to break away from what is expected by others.
  9. 00
    A Higher Geometry by Sharelle Byars Moranville (meggyweg)
    meggyweg: Two historical novels about a young girl about to graduate from school, trying to decide between college and marriage.
  10. 00
    Kit's Law by Donna Morrissey (Mareofthesea)
  11. 13
    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (missmaddie)
    missmaddie: Similar topic - young women from the countryside trying to find romance and their identity.
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English (136)  German (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (138)
Showing 1-5 of 136 (next | show all)
Mattie Gokey is one of the most engaging characters I have read about in fiction in a long time. She is intelligent and hardworking, yet conflicted about her goals in life. She wants an education, but isn't sure if it is worth the cost of leaving her home, her family and her boyfriend behind. At first glance that might not seem to be the most original of plots, but Mattie is an amazingly intense character who is living through a very hard time.

This story resonated with me because the decisions that Mattie has to make; dealing with loyalty, breaking promises, putting others first or doing what's best for her; these are issues that we all have to deal with at one time or another. Mattie struggles to find that balance between personal achievement and self-sacrifice. She has to determine what cost her personal achievements are worth, and whether it is okay to put her own goals ahead of the needs of others.

Mattie is very smart, extremely creative and has a love of learning (she learns a new word from the dictionary every day). She has a great skill for creative writing, and her teacher encourages her by exposing her to the works of other great writers and poets. It was hard at times, reading Mattie's story and knowing that if she stays on the farm or marries a local boy her creativity will be smothered by the tasks of daily life.

This book takes the form of two parallel storylines, both told by Mattie in the first person. One storyline is written in the present tense as Mattie works at the Glenmore Hotel during the summer that Grace Brown drowns in the lake. (The tale of Grace Brown is based the true story of her death by drowning in a lake in the Adirondacks.)

The other storyline is written in past tense and starts near the end of the school year before Mattie's graduation examinations. In this section we discover that when Mattie's mom died she made Mattie promise to stay and take care of the family. Initially this doesn't seem to be a problem, but then Mattie finds out that she has an opportunity to study at Barnard. Not only does she not have the money to go, but she knows that she should stay to help her family and keep her promise to her mother. She has an idea though - if she can just talk her father into letting her work at the Glenmore Hotel then she can save enough money for school (and she'll worry about her promise later).

Now, I already knew from the other storyline that Mattie found a way to work at the Glenmore Hotel, so it just seemed like I was waiting for the two storylines to come together; to discover how Mattie ends up there. As the story went on though, I realized that Mattie's tale was not so clear-cut. Trials and troubles arise, not to mention the complications of a love interest, all of which put her dreams of higher learning in jeopardy.

It's hard for me to convey how much I liked this book. I've never even been to the Adirondacks, yet as I listened to this story I could relate so much to Mattie that it felt like I was reading about someone I knew. The setting was so real that I felt like I had been there.

This book should be a classic in young adult literature right alongside books like Anne of Green Gables and The Girl of the Limberlost. I mention these two books because Mattie reminded me so much of their main characters. Mattie has ingenuity and a strong spirit like Elnora in The Girl of the Limberlost, and the brains and creativity of Anne from the Green Gables series.

I would not recommend this book for young children though, because Mattie does live through some terrible and unpleasant situations. Some of the topics discussed include: death, sickness, racism, sex, illegitimate children, and a very entertaining scene where the girls at the Glenmore Hotel get revenge on a dirty old man.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to young adults and adults alike. I was sad to come to the end of the book, hoping to stretch out my time in Mattie's world as long as possible.

Although I own a copy of this book, this review refers to the audiobook version of A Northern Light which I checked out from the library. I thought that the narrator was a very good fit for this audiobook (though I did read elsewhere that at least one reviewer didn't like the voice of the narrator). ( )
  akreese | May 16, 2013 |
A wonderful story set in 1906 about a 16-year-old girl with too many adult responsibilities who has a chance to go away to college in New York, but must first find both the money and the courage to battle society, her family, and her heart in order to make it a reality. Definitely a book for book lovers. Recommended. ( )
  whymaggiemay | May 5, 2013 |
(Note to self): I think I've already read this, looking forward to finding out if I'm right.
  Capnrandm | Apr 15, 2013 |
3.5/5

Due storie si dipanano nel romanzo: quella di Mattie, inventata, e quella di Grace Brown, tristemente reale.
Mattie, diventata dopo la morte della madre il sostegno del resto della famiglia, ha il sogno di andare all’università e lasciare una cittadina che non comprende lei e le sue aspirazioni.
Lavorando in uno degli hotel del luogo incontrerà Grace che le lascerà un plico di lettere da distruggere; leggendole, e ripensando al proprio passato recente, Mattie darà nuova voce alla storia di Grace e alla propria.
E’ un romanzo avvincente anche se alcuni (molti) elementi servono per sottolineare quanto poco invidiabile sarebbe la vita se Mattie restasse rinunciando all’università (l’immagine di Minnie con i gemelli, Royal che parla solo di granuturco etc…).
---
This novel speaks about two stories: the former, the fake one, about Mattie and the latter, tragically true, about Grace Brown.
Mattie, being the support of her family after her mother’s death, aims at the university, leaving behind a town that does not understand her and her wills.
Working in one of the hotel she will meet Grace who will leave are a pack of letters to destroy; reading them, and recalling her recent past, Mattie will give a new voice both to Grace story and her own.
It’s an engaging novel, however some (lots of) elements are only useful to underline how poor Mattie life should be if she gives up her studies (e.g. Minnie with the twins, Royal talking only about corn etc…). ( )
  Saretta.L | Apr 15, 2013 |
I am really pissed off at the moment.
I bought A Gathering Light and... A Northern Light thinking (of course) that it was a sequel)

Well thanks for wasting my money. Why change the title of a book for Europe and the US? Cause hoping for people like me that are stupid?

lol I wrote the above months ago but hey I was right so I am not going to delete it.

I finished this book last night June 2 and i was sad that it ended, I wanted to read more.
It took me a while to get into it but once I did I really enjoyed it. I wish The Northern Light was indeed a sequel. ;) ( )
  Marlene-NL | Apr 12, 2013 |
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Epigraph
"And if the many sayings of the wise
Teach of submission I will not submit
But with a spirit all unreconsciled
Flash an unquenched defiance to the stars."

Adelaide Crapsey
Saranac Lake, 1913
Dedication
For Megan, who escaped from the enchanted forest
First words
When summer comes to the North Woods, time slows down.
Quotations
It was one more hard and hopeless thing, and I was tired of hard and hopeless things.
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Disambiguation notice
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Wikipedia in English (3)

Book description
It's 1906 and 16-year-old Mattie Gokey is at a crossroads in her life. She's escaped the overwhelming responsibilities of helping to run her father's brokedown farm in exchange for a paid summer job as a serving girl at a fancy hotel in the Adirondacks. She's saving as much of her salary as she can, but she's having trouble deciding how she's going to use the money at the end of the summer. Mattie's gift is for writing and she's been accepted to Barnard College in New York City, but she's held back by her sense of responsibility to her family--and by her budding romance with handsome-but-dull Royal Loomis. Royal awakens feelings in Mattie that she doesn't want to ignore, but she can't deny her passion for words and her desire to write.

At the hotel, Mattie gets caught up in the disappearance of a young couple who had gone out together in a rowboat. Mattie spoke with the young woman, Grace Brown, just before the fateful boating trip, when Grace gave her a packet of love letters and asked her to burn them. When Grace is found drowned, Mattie reads the letters and finds that she holds the key to unraveling the girl's death and her beau's mysterious disappearance. Grace Brown's story is a true one (it's the same story told in Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy and in the film adaptation, A Place in the Sun), and author Jennifer Donnelly masterfully interweaves the real-life story with Mattie's, making her seem even more real.
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Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0152053107, Paperback)

It's 1906 and 16-year-old Mattie Gokey is at a crossroads in her life. She's escaped the overwhelming responsibilities of helping to run her father's brokedown farm in exchange for a paid summer job as a serving girl at a fancy hotel in the Adirondacks. She's saving as much of her salary as she can, but she's having trouble deciding how she's going to use the money at the end of the summer. Mattie's gift is for writing and she's been accepted to Barnard College in New York City, but she's held back by her sense of responsibility to her family--and by her budding romance with handsome-but-dull Royal Loomis. Royal awakens feelings in Mattie that she doesn't want to ignore, but she can't deny her passion for words and her desire to write.

At the hotel, Mattie gets caught up in the disappearance of a young couple who had gone out together in a rowboat. Mattie spoke with the young woman, Grace Brown, just before the fateful boating trip, when Grace gave her a packet of love letters and asked her to burn them. When Grace is found drowned, Mattie reads the letters and finds that she holds the key to unraveling the girl's death and her beau's mysterious disappearance. Grace Brown's story is a true one (it's the same story told in Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy and in the film adaptation, A Place in the Sun), and author Jennifer Donnelly masterfully interweaves the real-life story with Mattie's, making her seem even more real.

Mattie's frank voice reveals much about poverty, racism, and feminism at the turn of the twentieth century. She witnesses illness and death at a range far closer than most teens do today, and she's there when her best friend Minnie gives birth to twins. Mattie describes Minnie's harrowing labor with gut-wrenching clarity, and a visit with Minnie and the twins a few weeks later dispels any romance from the reality of young motherhood (and marriage). Overall, readers will get a taste of how bitter--and how sweet--ordinary life in the early 1900s could be. Despite the wide variety of troubles Mattie describes, the book never feels melodramatic, just heartbreakingly real. (14 and older) --Jennifer Lindsay

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:49:32 -0500)

(see all 8 descriptions)

In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.

» see all 4 descriptions

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