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 Review by Linda Harmon
This coming-of-age novel set in
1906 is based on real events that happened in New York's Adirondack
Mountains. A young woman named Grace Brown was mysteriously drowned
in Big Moose Lake.
The main character in "A
Northern Light" is 16-year-old Mattie Gorkey. She loves words. She
loves words so much that she looks up a word every day in the
dictionary and attempts to use it in as many ways as possible. She
dreams of going to college and becoming a writer. The reality of her
life is that before Mattie's mother died, Mattie promised her that
she would stay on the farm and help her father and younger siblings.
The story is told in a series of flashbacks between Mattie's job as
a waitress at one of the lake resorts and her home life.
Surprisingly, Mattie's father
allows her to continue her schooling after her mother dies. Miss
Wilcox, the local teacher, takes a special interest in Mattie and
her best friend, Weaver, who happens to be the first freeborn person
in his family. She helps Mattie and Weaver prepare for tests that
will allow them to both receive scholarships for college. Miss
Wilcox is an intriguing character and supplies a surprising twist to
the story. Eventually Mattie's father understands what college means
to her and allows her to get a job at the resort to make the money
she needs to get to Barnard College in New York.
The body of Grace Brown is
discovered in the opening chapter of the book. It is also in this
first chapter that we are given a glimpse of what Mattie knows about
Grace Brown and the man with whom she was involved. He signed the
register at the hotel as Carl Graham, but Mattie knows that his real
name is Chester Gillette. She overheard Grace call him Chester, and
Mattie has hidden under her mattress a stack of letters addressed to
him -- letters that Grace gave her and she promised to burn. As
Mattie begins to read the letters she realizes they hold the key to
solving Grace's murder, but she can't bring herself to share them,
yet.
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To complicate Mattie's life
even more than it is, she is courted by the very handsome Royal
Loomis, son of a wealthy farmer who owns the land next to her
father's. This is a very confusing yet flattering situation for
Mattie. Royal wants to marry her and sees no reason for her to go to
college. Even though he appears to be very interested in her, what
he says and does leaves her questioning his motives for their
relationship. In the end, reading Grace's letters helps Mattie
realize that she must not feel bound to stay by duty or the pressure
of others but must leave for her own happiness.
This
story deals with such themes as the loss of a parent, family
responsibility, women's rights, racism, sexual awakening, pregnancy,
murder, friendship and love. The characters are very believable and
the story is well-written. Lovers of historical fiction will truly
enjoy this novel. It is recommended for ages 13 and up because of
the themes, mild language and sexual situations. This murder was
also the inspiration for Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy."
[Linda Harmon,
Lincoln
Public Library District]
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