A Northern Light

Donnelly, J. (2004). A northern light. Orlando: Harcourt.
Historical fiction Highly recommended

At 16 years old, Mattie Gokey longs to get off the farm that she is left to help run in the Adirondaks since her mother died. She wants a life with books and learning. Mattie is inspired by her teacher who turns out to be married but has left her husband so she can write scandalous poetry. Mattie hopes to earn enough money working at a resort on Big Moose Lake to get to New York to go to college.

Around July 4th, a young couple checks in. The lady, Grace Brown, hands Mattie a handful of letters and tells her to burn them. Later the couple rents a boat but only the gentleman comes back. What happened to Grace? Mattie finds it difficult to get to the cellar to burn the letters so she reads them. The letters reveal (somewhat factually based) that Grace Brown is pregnant with Chester Gillette’s baby and she desperately wants him to marry her before anyone finds out. Other letters indicate Chester is already in love with someone else and has other plans.

Investigators theorize that Chester rented the boat, probably hit Grace over the head with a tennis racket that someone saw him take with him, which left a gash on her head. He flipped the boat, knowing she couldn’t swim, she drown and he made his escape. In the end, Mattie turns over the letters and sneaks off to New York to make a new life for herself.
*Deals with neighbor letting other farmer have sex with her (Jimmy’s momma) so she can have enough food to feed her children.
Ms. Wilson