Have you ever been in a situation where someone’s death lies in your hands? Well Mattie Gokey has. She is the main character in a book called A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelley. It’s about a 16 year old girl who wants to go to college but doesn’t have the money to go and her dad won’t let her leave. Her dad finally lets her go but only so she can make money for the farm. While she’s there, she meets a young women named Grace, who gives her some letters and tells her to burn them. Grace was murdered the next day. Mattie ends up reading the letters which helps her solve the mystery of who killed Grace, and she can’t decide whether or not she should tell someone about it or keep it to herself.

In my opinion the beginning of the book was too slow and boring, but then about a third of the way through it, everything started getting dramatic and suspenseful. After that I couldn’t put the book down. It was so descriptive I felt like I was whaching a movie in my head. One problem I had with the characters is the way Mattie just let people walk all over her and never stood up for herself. She wouldn’t ever say how she felt to anyone except her best friend Weaver. But overall I liked the book and I’m probably going to recommend to some of my friends.

If you like mysteries, the 1900’s and suspense then you would love A Northern Light. Some parts of the book use challenging words, so if you’re not the type of reader that’s good with things like that then you probably wouldn’t want to read this book. My rating for this book is a 9 out of 10.