false 64481 14 It's 1906 and 16-year-old Mattie Gokey is at a crossroads in her life. She's escaped the overwhelming responsibilities of helping to run her father's brokedown farm in exchange for a paid summer job as a serving girl at a fancy hotel in the Adirondacks. She's saving as much of her salary as she can, but she's having trouble deciding how she's going to use the money at the end of the summer. Mattie's gift is for writing and she's been accepted to Barnard College in New York City, but she's held back by her sense of responsibility to her family--and by her budding romance with handsome-but-dull Royal Loomis. Royal awakens feelings in Mattie that she doesn't want to ignore, but she can't deny her passion for words and her desire to write. At the hotel, Mattie gets caught up in the disappearance of a young couple who had gone out together in a rowboat. Mattie spoke with the young woman, Grace Brown, just before the fateful boating trip, when Grace gave her a packet of love letters and asked her to burn them. When Grace is found drowned, Mattie reads the letters and finds that she holds the key to unraveling the girl's death and her beau's mysterious disappearance. Grace Brown's story is a true one (it's the same story told in Theodore Dreiser's <I>An American Tragedy</I> and in the film adaptation, <I>A Place in the Sun</I>), and author Jennifer Donnelly masterfully interweaves the real-life story with Mattie's, making her seem even more real. Mattie's frank voice reveals much about poverty, racism, and feminism at the turn of the twentieth century. She witnesses illness and death at a range far closer than most teens do today, and she's there when her best friend Minnie gives birth to twins. Mattie describes Minnie's harrowing labor with gut-wrenching clarity, and a visit with Minnie and the twins a few weeks later dispels any romance from the reality of young motherhood (and marriage). Overall, readers will get a taste of how bitter--and how sweet--ordinary life in the early 1900s could be. Despite the wide variety of troubles Mattie describes, the book never feels melodramatic, just heartbreakingly real. (14 and older) <I>--Jennifer Lindsay</I> 3337093 book 2003 A Northern Light total:3105|5:863|4:1285|3:718|2:184|1:55| 3105 12032 4752 653 5 7 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jun 04 08:25:08 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 08:25:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jan 17 13:20:52 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 17 13:20:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jan 05 05:20:26 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 05 05:20:44 -0800 2008
It’s 1906 and Mattie Gokey wants to go to college in New York City. There’s only one problem- she’s a girl. Mattie works at the hotel, and Grace Brown gives her a packet of letters to burn. Matt...more...]]> 4 5 false false Fri Jan 04 06:04:32 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 01 10:41:46 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 04 06:04:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 2 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 06:20:02 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 07:02:24 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false true Sat May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 21:54:35 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 29 13:56:36 -0800 2008
However, there are a lot of obstacles standing in her way. Mattie’s father is advising her to stay here to help him and h...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Mar 27 11:58:27 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 18:46:07 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 16:36:38 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 19:50:27 -0800 2008
The book is based o...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 20 19:31:41 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 19:08:01 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon Jun 18 11:39:29 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 12:13:48 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Mar 24 21:11:55 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 21:25:20 -0700 2009
Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey and her family a...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Fri Mar 13 12:06:48 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 12:10:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 24 07:47:54 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 07:56:36 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 18 14:49:44 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 20:06:17 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 05 18:21:17 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 18:42:13 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 19 15:09:25 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 15:52:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 23 12:44:02 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 13:09:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 2 false true Tue Jul 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 09:26:29 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 13:17:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 09 19:28:53 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 19:52:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 15:48:08 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 16:01:59 -0700 2009 more...]]>