A Northern Light

by Jennifer Donnelly
Lexile:  700
Genre:  Historical Fiction

Mattie wants to be a writer.  In order to realize that dream, she is going to need to move away from the small town of Eagle Bay which means leaving her family and friends.  The problem is that she made a promise to her mother before she died that she would stay and help her father raise her younger siblings.  Mattie could marry Royal and farm with him next door to her father, but that just isn't her dream.  Mattie convinces her father to let her work at the Glenmore Hotel for the summer.  While she is working there, she meets Grace Brown.  Even though it is a brief encounter, meeting Grace, gives Mattie the courage to take charge of her life and set out on a path that will help make her dreams come true.