A Northern Light Book Review

Famous novelist and award-winning author, Jennifer Donnelly was born in Port Chester, New York on August 16, 1963. She was a bright student growing up and later went on to attend the University of Rochester, majoring in English, Literature, and European History. After graduating, she attended Birbeck College, University of London. When Donnelly turned twenty-five, she decided to move to Brooklyn, New York and pursue a career in writing. Since then, she has written nine novels, being best known for A Northern Light.

Many factors contributed to the making of this book being published. A Northern Light is a historical fiction that was first published in the U.K. and received many awards across the world. In Britain, the book won the Carnegie Medal. In the U.S. it won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and The Charlotte Award (Biography, 1).

This novel takes place in 1906 about a young girl named Mattie Gokey. The time period shifts between the present and the past of her life.

The present focuses on Mattie’s life at the Glenmore Hotel, where she works. The hotel staff soon discovers the body of Grace Brown in Big Moose Lake. Discovering Grace’s body is nerve-racking for Mattie because earlier that day Grace had given Mattie numerous letters and instructed her to burn them. She is conflicted throughout the entire story on whether to burn the letters or not. Every time she attempts to burn them, she is not able to because she is constantly busy with work or her boss is on the prowl.

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Thus leading her to read them and discovering crucial information to the case. The past focuses on Mattie’s life at home, where she is in school trying to attain a high school diploma and loves to write stories. She is aspiring to go to college and receives a full scholarship to Barnard College in New York, New York. The main thing that is holding her back from going is her promise she had made to her mother before she died, which was to stay and take care …

A Northern Light Summary