“Burn them. Please… Promise me you will. No one can ever see them. Please!” were the last words Grace Brown told Mattie Gokey before she was found dead floating on the lake nearby.

Mattie Gokey is a girl who loves to read and write while everyone else wants her around the house to take care of the farm. People think she's weird because she wants a college education, but her dream is to go to college in New York City. She went to go work at the Glenmore, a nearby resort, to help her dad pay for the new horse. That's where she met Grace Brown. Grace was desperate to see her letters gone, but Mattie knew that in her hands, she has the information that could help discover the truth about Grace Brown's death. Does Mattie have the courage to help find Grace's murderer and follow her dream, or is she just going to let people plan out her life for her?

Jennifer Donnelly has an interesting style of writing. Each chapter is about the present, or it is flashback of how Mattie got to the Glenmore. It was a little confusing at first, but when I realized that the flashbacks were represented with a word of the day Mattie uses, it was easier to follow. When I first started to read it, it was a little slow. But as I kept reading, the book made me so curious that I just couldn't put the book down. If you are one of those people who love historical fiction and/or murder mysteries, then A Northern Light is the perfect book for you.