Mattie is fictional – a figment of Jennifer Donnelly’s mind. How could it be that this smart, savvy teenager from the early 1900’s had herself more together than I did when I was coming-of-age in the grand and glorious “You’ve come a long way, baby,” 1980’s? Yes, yes, I know. She wants to become a writer and see new worlds and be her own person. She does not want to “know her place” as a farm wife or mother she wants to go to college. She is a writer, a reader, and a collector of words. Well it IS, but for me it was about the heart of a reader. This book is not about murder mysteries or romance at all. I read it.Īnd here’s what I want to say: Whoever wrote that back cover summary? The one about the murder and the mystery and the romance? They totally missed the boat. “It’s amazing.” And – well – since I was the new-girl-on-the-job and looking to make a new friend or two, I did.
My colleague asked me from time to time if I had read the book yet.
A historical MYSTERY romance novel.” Yes, yes, it had a shiny Printz honor sticker on the front and a few mentions of other awards and starred reviews on the back, but really? I just looked at the cover and decided it wasn’t for me.ĭays went by. Set in 1906 against he backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, this astonishing novel weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, real, and whole original.” (back cover) But when grace’s drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers the letters reveal the grim truth behind a murder. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown asks her to burn a bundle of secret letters. Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Then I flipped it over and read the back and was even less inspired.
When a colleague at my new job at the University recommended this book to me because she uses it for her children’s literature class every semester, my first thought upon glancing at the picture on the cover was, “Historical romance novel? Uh – no.” But come on…fess up – you do this sometimes, right? It’s not just me? For me, the perfect example of why I should NOT judge a book by its cover is A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. I know it’s not right I know it’s judgmental. True confession: I judge books by their cover.
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