Jennifer Donnelly
389 pages

Mattie Gokey is 16 years old in 1906 and she is growing up in Adirondack Mountains(she calls them the North Woods) of New York. Her life is hard because her mother has died and she is the eldest of four girls so she bears a lot of responsibility for her sisters and helping her father run the family farm. She loves words, reading, and writing. She looks up a word every day and plays word games with her friend Weaver as they both struggle to keep up their chores and their hard life. They need to do well in school so they can go to the city for college. Both have shown incredible promise and have scholarships to prestigious universities.

Along the way, Mattie, who is very lonely and feels unloved since her mother’s death, dares to believe that her handsome though singularly-focused neighbor, Royal Loomis, actually notices and cares for her. Intertwined through Mattie’s story is the tragic but true tale of Grace Brown and Chester Gillette. Grace had given Mattie a stack of letters to destroy, which Mattie intended to do. However, when Grace turns up dead Mattie begins to read the letters and the course of her life begins to change.

Having read both The Tea Rose and A Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly, I was really looking forward to A Northern Light.  Mattie is a very likable character and I related to her quite a bit. When I was a child I used to enjoy looking words up in the dictionary just like Mattie did  and finding unique ways to use them in a sentence. This probably cements my first class dork status but there you have it.  

I did find myself getting frustrated with Mattie at times because I was so rooting for her to accomplish her dreams. She is gifted with talent and insight and at times it annoyed me because I wanted more for her. Can you tell I was a wee bit invested in the story? There is a section at the back of the book that tells about the real Grace Brown and Chester Gillette.

This was a very enjoyable piece of historical fiction which I recommend. I understand why this is a Printz Honor Book.(4/5)