A Northern Light

Mattie has been discovering new things about the death of Grace Brown. She has now read all the letters. She found out they were love letters sent to Grace. Mattie is learning a lot from this experience. She is trying to help find the murderer of Grace and her lover the night they went on a boat on the lake near the hotel. She has learned to live life for herself and not in the shadow of anyone else. She is determined to find herself and make something out of herself. She realizes that its time for her to live her life and not in her mothers shadow like her father wants her to do.

I thought this book has been still really slow, but it picks up in the middle when the whole point of the novel starts occuring. I think it's really intresting how this is a true story about the murder is fixed into the novel. I also think it gives readers a good outlook of how to take charge and live your own life according how you want to. I also think it has a good meaning and most readers would learn a lot from reading it.


"I keep reading, but there's nothing in the letter about Carl Grahm. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. I put Grace's letter down and shuffle through the bundle until I find what I'm after- a few letters written by Chester. I open the first one"

This quote is significant because this is when Mattie starts reading through Grace Brown's letters that she asked Mattie to burn.

A Northern Light

I recently found out that this novel was based on a true story. Grace Brown really was murdered in the 1900s by a man who wanted her riches. The resort that she works at is near the Adirondack mountains. Mattie has found out about the murder of Grace Brown and she is confused and scared because Grace had given her letters to burn. After reading them Mattie has discovered that the drowning was no accident. She also discovered that Grace had been out on a boat with her 'lover' who also was apparently drowned too. It's a lot for Mattie to take in but she does the right thing and helps find out what happened to them. Mattie is still really focused on trying to get enough money to get to college in the fall in New York. She is also trying to persue her writing career. She has help from Miss Wilcox. She also works at Miss Wilcox's library on weekends to make extra money.

This is a really slow book at the beginning, it made me not want to keep reading. It kind of just drags on and on with no real point. It doesn't really get intresting until she finds out about the murders. I think it is also a hard book to follow because it jumps around a lot even though it is in Mattie's point of view.

Vocab:

Poleaxed: a medieval shafted weapon with blade combining ax, hammer, and apical spike, used for fighting on foot.
Famished: extremely hungry: to be famished after a hike; famished, homeless multitudes.

A Northern Light

In the chapters i've recently read, Mattie had accepted working at the hotel for the summer. She learned and has found out about a couple that disapeared many years ago. She meets a guest at the hotel named Grace Brown. She promised her at that she would burn many letters she gives to Mattie. Before Mattie has gotton a chance to burn the stacks of letters she gets, Grace is found dead in a lake near the hotel. The man that Grace was also with that night was found to be disapeared.

Vocab:
Enameled: any of various varnishes, paints, coatings, etc., drying to a hard, glossy finish.

Oarlocks: A device, usually a U-shaped metal hoop on a swivel in the gunwale, used to hold an oar in place and as a fulcrum in rowing.

A Nothern Light

This is an award winning novel. It is based in the 1900's in a small town. Mattie really wants to succeed in life, unlike her father, who works on their families farm. She is a great writer and all her friends and teachers says she should persue a career in writing. Mattie wants to get a job so she can start saving money and save up for college and her future. Her family doesn't really have hope for her at this point, her father doesn't even think a teenage girl should be working outside the house or the farm. She got a job at a nice hotel. She was accpeted into a college in New York, but her father really doesn't want her to leave her family behind with so much work to do everyday. Since her siblings are so young it's hard for her to leave.

"I took a deep breath and ripped the envelope open. There was a single sheet of paper iknside clipped to my battered old composition book. 'Dear Miss Gokey,' it read. 'It is with great pleasure that I write to inform you of your acceptance to Barnard College...'" (64).


"I looked at my teacher, barely able to breathe, much less speak. It says they want me, I thought. Bernard colelge wants me. Mattie Gokey from the Uncas Road in Eagle bay. It says that the dean herself likes my stories and doesn;t think they are morbid and dispiriting, and that professors, real professors with long black gowns and all sorts of fancy degrees, will teach me." (65)

These quotes are significant to the story because finally Mattie is told that her writing is good and she has potential to make a career out of it. Instead of before how her old teacher told her she wasn't a good writer and she should just quit while shes ahead. This part is really important to the story because Mattie finally has a chance to leave her small town and make something big out of herself.

Outside Reading

I am about half way through my novel, A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. It is a pretty easy read so far, no huge words that are hard to understand. It is mainly about a 16 year old teenager named Mattie, she has many brothers and sisters and neighbors that she has to take care of. Her family is at the pit of being poor. Her mother just died and has left her in charge of the family. She has a tough time trying to raise her family and still have a life of her own. Her father is out on the farm all day trying to make his own income, while still expecting someone to clean up, make the food, and make sure everything is alright in the house. It's hard for her to get used to taking on such a big role, she has many dreams she wants to accomplish to but she feels like her family and struggles is getting in the way.