A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnolly

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly is a fictional book based on a real murder mystery that happened in 1906. This is a wonderful book that creates such vivid details that it is impossible to ignore. I would recommend it to any teenager who loves to read a good mystery. I would also recommend it to anyone who has a thirst for a good, entertaining read, and anyone that is looking to pass the time. This book is quite entertaining; with its unique characters, original storyline, and its passion for truth. Jennifer Donnelly uses a great wide range of vocabulary, so you also learn the meaning of many different words through out the book. Jennifer Donnelly commonly writes young-adult fiction. Donnelly is 49 years old, and has won the Carnegie Metal in Literature Award. The main character, Mattie Gokey is a very intelligent young woman who eventually moves to New York to go to Barnard College to become a writer. Mattie Gokey is a teenager living in 1906 New York. She moves to the city. She ends up working at a hotel where she meets a very mysterious woman named Grace Brown. Grace Brown asks her to burn a bundle of letters, and gives them to her. Little did Mattie know, those letters were the answer to the many questions of the mystery behind the murder of Grace Brown.

"Whenever summer comes to the North Woods, time slows down. And some days its stops altogether. The sky, gray and lowering for much of the year, becomes an ocean of blue, so vast and brilliant you cant help but stop what you're doing..." (Page 1)

"To Amsterdam and Albany and beyond. To New York City. To my future. My life." (Page 380)

This book  has inspired me to follow my dreams. It has also taught me to stand up for what I believe in, because a big symbol in the book is education, and women's rights. I honestly respect Mattie Gokey, because she left everything behind to go somewhere she had not been, and even though she may have been scared, she still did it. She gave it her everything, and in the end, it all paid off. After everything she had been through, she still kept her head held high, which was also a strong message to me, because I have been through a lot in my life, as well. So I am inspired to stay strong, like she did. This book was a joy to read, and I am glad that I have picked it.