Hotel guest Grace Brown asked Mattie to burn a packet of letters, but when Brown is later found drowned in the lake, Mattie cannot bring herself to destroy the letters. The heroine, Mattie Gokey, works as a maid at the Glenmore, a resort at Big Moose Lake. Set in the Adirondacks in 1906, this story is set against a famous real-life murder which also formed the backdrop for Theodore Dreiser’s classic novel, An American Tragedy. I think this haunting coming-of-age novel is more properly classified as historical fiction and while I did find it hard reading at times, I loved the story. I wasn’t quite in the mood to tackle a giant doorstopper of a book this month, so I skipped over The Tea Rose and picked up her 2003 young adult novel, A Northern Light, instead.įrom the cover blurb, I was uncertain whether to expect YA romance or historical fiction. I’ve heard good things about Jennifer Donnelly’s books over the years. So, when prompted to pick out a book by a new-to-me author, my dilemma was something along the lines of which new-to-me author to liberate from the stack. And since I’m fairly dangerous in used bookstores, I have a massive TBR pile. (Apr.The combination of cheap and “sounds intriguing” has lured me into buying many a book. Davis's roster of distinct supporting characters helps anchor the story in its time and place, and the tale's true-crime roots add both suspense and gravity to the proceedings. Via Davis's interpretation, listeners will be captivated by Mattie's humor and wit as well as by the conflicted feelings she experiences on the cusp of womanhood. With her soft, slightly girlish voice, Davis makes Mattie thoroughly believable. However, when a young woman staying at the hotel drowns mysteriously, after secretly entrusting Mattie with a packet of her letters, the summer and Mattie's future take an intriguing turn. The picture brightens when Mattie's family comes to support her dreams and she takes work at a hotel for the summer. But college-and a writing career-seem out of the question, as Mattie has promised to fulfill her late mother's dying wish: that Mattie never leave her father and younger siblings.

A gifted student, Mattie has an ear for words and a desire to become a writer. Here she steps into the character of 16-year-old Mattie Gokey, the determined, likable protagonist of Donnelly's first YA novel, inspired by a 1906 murder in New York state. Davis adds to an audiobook oeuvre distinguished by her skill at portraying young heroines with great emotional depth.

A northern light by jennifer donnelly