A Northern Light

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It's 1906 and 16-year-old Mattie Gokey is at a crossroads in her life. She's escaped the overwhelming responsibilities of helping to run her father's brokedown farm in exchange for a paid summer job as a serving girl at a fancy hotel in the Adirondacks. She's saving as much of her salary as she can, but she's having trouble deciding how she's going to use the money at the end of the summer. Mattie's gift is for writing and she's been accepted to Barnard College in New York City, but she's held back by her sense of responsibility to her family--and by her budding romance with handsome-but-dull Royal Loomis. Royal awakens feelings in Mattie that she doesn't want to ignore, but she can't deny her passion for words and her desire to write.

At the hotel, Mattie gets caught up in the disappearance of a young couple who had gone out together in a rowboat. Mattie spoke with the young woman, Grace Brown, just before the fateful boating trip, when Grace gave her a packet of love letters and asked her to burn them. When Grace is found drowned, Mattie reads the letters and finds that she holds the key to unraveling the girl's death and her beau's mysterious disappearance. Grace Brown's story is a true one (it's the same story told in Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy and in the film adaptation, A Place in the Sun), and author Jennifer Donnelly masterfully interweaves the real-life story with Mattie's, making her seem even more real.

Mattie's frank voice reveals much about poverty, racism, and feminism at the turn of the twentieth century. She witnesses illness and death at a range far closer than most teens do today, and she's there when her best friend Minnie gives birth to twins. Mattie describes Minnie's harrowing labor with gut-wrenching clarity, and a visit with Minnie and the twins a few weeks later dispels any romance from the reality of young motherhood (and marriage). Overall, readers will get a taste of how bitter--and how sweet--ordinary life in the early 1900s could be. Despite the wide variety of troubles Mattie describes, the book never feels melodramatic, just heartbreakingly real. (14 and older) --Jennifer Lindsay

Book Description

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace's drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder.

Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Jennifer Donnelly's astonishing debut novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original.

Includes a reader's guide and an interview with the author.

Customer Reviews:

Hysterical Fiction.......2007-08-09

The Amazon reviewer writes that "the book never feels melodramatic," and the SLJ writes that "Donnelly's characters ring true to life," and, "an outstanding choice for historical fiction fans." Perhaps the reviewers at Amazon and the SLJ are young teenagers?

A Northern Light is not a bad book, it's just not what I hoped or expected it would be, based on descriptions and reviews. First, it's a YA book through and through. Some might call it a coming of age story, but it is so chock-full of "lessons" for adolescents that it seems more like a classroom than a story. In almost every chapter, and every week, of young Mattie's life, there is an eye-opening and paradigm-expanding "experience," all of them methodically sequenced in order to help Mattie - and the young readers of this book - step into less-than-innocent adulthood. There are all the usual lessons of coming of age YA novels, such as boyfriends, girlfriends, kissing, desire, sex, and love. There are additional lessons in pregnancy, birth, postpartum depression, disease, lust, adultery, greed, and racism. And then there is a rather odd and protracted lesson in masturbation and exhibitionism.

As I said, the lessons get in the way of the story, or rather, the story is the vehicle for the lessons. I do not consider this historical fiction, as there are precious few lessons in history, and the characters do not "ring true." For example, there is one black character, Weaver. Weaver and his mother are the only two black people that Mattie has ever seen or known. Weaver's father was lynched. Weaver is Mattie's best friend and he is the smartest kid around, on track to go to a fine university on scholarship. Everyone likes Weaver, he is friends with all the white folks, he goes to the same schools, is welcomed in everyone's home, and works at the same jobs as the white kids. But Weaver brandishes physical rage against anyone who shows him any kind of disrespect. Weaver always manages to escape the consequences of his destructive behavior, because everybody, including the sheriffs and the judges, like him so much. This hardly rings true to life.

The real mystery of this story is the murder, the real-life murder of Grace Brown. At the end, I wondered why the author included it. The murder and its investigation do not play an important role in the story. For most of the story it's barely in the background. And yet, Mattie has letters from the victim showing that Grace was murdered, and even after Mattie realizes this, she goes on with her adolescent life as if she didn't know. She decides to give the letters to the sheriff only at the end, but there's no explanation as to why Mattie waited that long. I think perhaps the best parts of this book are the real-life letters that Grace Brown had written, which are included in the story as Mattie reads about one each day. Given that we know Grace's fate, the letters evoke even more empathy, and make this book worth reading, almost.

Excellent Teen Novel.......2007-08-06

This novel is probably one of the best coming-of-age novels I've ever read. It details accurately the life back in the twenteeith century, as well as giving two stories at the same time. This book is recommended to everyone out there; I know you're going to love it because I did. Excellent teen debut novel from an excellent author.

Great read for adults too!.......2007-07-27

I loved A Northern Light. Mattie is a fully drawn main character and the author paints a compelling picture of life in the Adirondacks in the early 1900s. The first chapter really draws you in.

My only (minor) complaint is that the jumping back and forth in time got a little confusing. The book starts out only about a day before the point where it ends. Almost everything in between is in the past, but it's hard at times to know for sure what is in the past, and what is real time in the chapters between the beginning and the end.

Other than that, it's a great read for older young adults and just plain adults as well!

Great Story.......2007-07-16

When I picked up this book at the half price bookstore, I did not realize it was a young adult book. The book summary on the back of the book got my attention. I read the book, and what a surprise! A very good story. I like that it tied into a true story. Makes me want to read more about the real story, An American Tragedy (Signet Classics) I loved the character development. Jennifer Donnelly is a great storyteller. There were sad moments, happy moments, laugh out loud moments and just good thinking about "life in general" moments. I really enjoyed her style of writing so much, I went and bought The Tea Rose. Once again, the prologue already got me wanting more!. I have read 80 pages of this book and I am throughly enjoying every page. I was lucky enough to find a copy of the next book, The Winter Rose which is difficult to get at the moment. Cannot wait to read it, and I understand that there will be a third book, The Wild Rose. (Triology). I highly recommend this author. Great summer reading.

A Pleasure to be savored...for Adults as well.......2007-07-03

This was a wonderful story. I loved the characters and the time period and the setting.

I loved the Mattie Gokey, our 16 year old narrator, who struggles to make choices that will shape the rest of her life. She is a bright and gifted young woman who is the eldest sister in a farming family.

The story takes place in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. Where Mattie eventually goes to work at the Glenmore Hotel on Big Moose Lake serving the rich tourists in the dinning room.

She waits on a young couple there and sadly before the end of the day the woman, Grace Brown, is pulled from the lake, dead. Earlier in the day she had given Mattie a bundle of secret letters. Mattie realizes that they hold the answers to what really happened to Grace and her missing companion.

Why this was marketed as a young adult novel I don't know...I thought it was well written, rich with detailed narrative and dealt with serious issues; adultery, marriage, feminism, parenthood, racism, death and murder. There are several different story lines with conflict and tension, all realistic and realistically resolved.

I also liked the fact that the story line revolving around Grace Brown was inspired by historical facts.

I thought this was a really enjoyable read. The only criticism I can make is that I thought Jennifer Donnelly could have added more physical descriptions of the many different characters in this story. Otherwise is was just perfect.

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Living with a Sense of Place

Northern Farm
Henry Beston
Manufacturer: Blackberry Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0942396979

Product Description

a new edition of Henry Beston's classic Northern Farm - A Chronicle of Maine, chronicling a year in the late 1930s on the author's farm, Chimney Farm, in Nobleboro, Maine. This edition is a facsimile of the edition illustrated by Thoreau MacDonald, and all proceeds from this edition go to preserve and protect Beston's Chimney Farm.

Customer Reviews:

Living with a Sense of Place.......2007-08-21

In an earlier paroxysm of youth, Henry Beston penned that magnificent cataclysm of light and wind and water on Cape Cod entitled The Outermost House. He will be forever remembered for that, but in its own way, Northern Farm is every bit as much of a classic. Although set over a period of one year, this is actually the rich mellow experience of many years of living in rural Maine. The writing is still as finely crafted, the sense of place just as profound, but the book possesses a quieter maturity, every bit as beautiful. Perhaps less concerned with the brilliance, Northern Farm is closer to the day to day passages of life.

For anyone with a heart for the earth, who would live with belonging, this book is highly recommended. A man with vision, Beston wrote from an intense ecological sense of feeling. Northern Farm belongs right up there on the shelf alongside The Outermost House and Thoreau's Walden and Leopold's Sand County Almanac; one of the great forerunners to the greening of America.

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Excellent text and marvellous photography - a real treat!
A fine guide to one of Scotland's richest historical sites.

Iona
E. Mairi MacArthur
Manufacturer: Edinburgh University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1902930274

Book Description

The Hebridean island of Iona has been the focus of intense outside interest for over fourteen hundred years, from the time of St Columba's monastery in the sixth century through to the transfer of its renowned monuments into the care of Historic Scotland in the year 2000.

Yet the people who lived and worked alongside its sacred sites have been largely overshadowed until now. This book is the first to redress the balance, taking an in-depth look at Iona's economic and social history during the 18th and 19th centuries, a period that saw profound change across the Highlands and Islands.

It charts the agricultural reorganisation that led to a crofting system, follows the islanders through the harsh decade of the potato famine and records their worship and education, their crafts and customs, and the ties of kinship that underpinned their community. A broad range of sources are woven together - documentary, material, topographical and photographic, along with oral testimony handed down the generations - to create a vivid picture of Iona's past.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent text and marvellous photography - a real treat!.......1999-04-29

This is one of the few books that does justice to Iona, an island that has enchanted and captivated visitors for, literally, thousands of years. It is truly difficult to convey the elusive magic of Iona, that combination of physical place and atmosphere which draws so many of us back, time after time. Colin Baxter needs no introduction to those familiar with landscape photography in Scotland, and his work here is up to his usual breath-taking standard. Mairi MacArthur has a solid grounding in the history of the island, and of Argyll and the Highlands, as well as a sympathetic but honest perspective on islanders, past and present. As a guide during your visit to Iona, the book is first-rate. The maps and diagrams are simple but clear and full. The explanations and descriptions help you understand what you see around you, in terms of geology, ecology, human settlements, animal and human life - and including of course the ancient religious centre. It is readable and useful for those less familiar with Scotland and its life and traditions as well as for those of us who live here For those who have visited Iona, it is a lovely reminder. For those who have not yet had that privilege, this is a taster which should have you itching to come.

A fine guide to one of Scotland's richest historical sites........1998-11-02

This book is the latest of Mairi MacArthur's books on her family's native island. It is rich in accurate, well-researched detail, supported by her extensive knowledge of Iona. This has been gained through academic research and through her close acquaintance with the island's residents over many years. Colin Baxter's photographs give an excellent impression of Iona, though generally when on its best behaviour in the summer - it can be a wild place at other times! The island is of interest to tourists, academics and also Christian people wishing to explore this small and incredibly beautiful island, and to see for themselves the place where some of those rugged Celtic saints brought their faith from Ireland to Scotland in the sixth century. The pictures and story of the Abbey show how it remains very much a living home of the Christian faith. It will surely also appeal to the generations of Iona emigrants who have settled in the USA and Canada.

The Northern Farm: A Glorious Year on a Small Maine Farm

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Sort of an "Outermost House," relocated to Maine
Stirs the Yoeman farmer in each of us!

The Northern Farm: A Glorious Year on a Small Maine Farm
Henry Beston
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

Sort of an "Outermost House," relocated to Maine.......2004-09-08

Henry Beston is best known for writing about his solo Cape Cod beach experience in "The Outermost House." A few years later he married author Elizabeth Coatsworth, and they bought a farm in Maine. First published in 1948, "Northern Farm" recounts a calendar year's worth of rural life in that northern clime. Brrrr.

The chronological narrative begins as the Bestons return to their snow-covered fields and ice-capped pond after celebrating the Christmas season with friends in New York. Each chapter combines factual events with entries from Beston's farm diary, plus his summary philosophical statements. And boy, does winter sure seem to last a long time! It frames the progression of the book. Thankfully Beston takes the opportunity to describe the wildlife he's able to encounter between snowstorms. An overwhelming sense of community surfaces here as well. Remember: this story takes place in a farming landscape just after WWII, before a television could be found in every living room, and when people relied on each other for help during challenging times. They were the kind of times when you left a lantern burning in the front room so that you could more easily find your way home after attending a church supper on a rainy night. "The good old days," for some.

In addition to his notes about managing a small farm and following Nature's course, Beston ruminates about international issues. The war is still fresh in his mind, and he needs to speak about it. Read in post-9/11 times, his comments strike an eerie chord of familiarity. For example:

"No age in history can afford to lay too much emphasis upon 'security.' The truth is from our first breath to our last we inhabit insecurely a world which must of transitory nature be insecure, and that moreover any security we do achieve is but a kind of an illusion. While admitting that a profound instinct towards such safety as we can achieve is part of our animal being, let us also confess that the challenge involved in mere existence is the source of many of the greater virtues of human character." (page 47, in my paperback copy)

Wow! And that's just one of his astute observations.

"Northern Farm" describes a simpler time and place that we'll never see again, regretfully. This is a book well worth tracking down. Just be prepared for A LOT of winter!

Stirs the Yoeman farmer in each of us!.......1998-03-18

This is a delightful work. The writing is superb. It is a quick read, too quick. I wish it went on for several hundred pages more. It is one of those books that once you finish it the next book you read seems flat and dull. It is about a year he spent on his farm in Maine. It is filled with wonderful, arftul, inciteful, descriptive glimpses into this world and humanity. It stirs the soul and has a way of making one want to go right outside and plant something. A great read for anyone who likes nature or great writing in general.

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The MALTESE ANGEL: A NOVEL
Catherine Cookson
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0671896490

Book Description

Ward Gibson knew what was expected of him by the village folk, and especially by the Mason family, whose daughter Daisy he had known all his life. But then, in a single week, his whole world had been turned upside down by a dancer, Stephanie McQueen, who seemed to float across the stage of the Empire Music Hall where she was appearing as The Maltese Angel. To his amazement, the attraction was mutual, and after a whirlwind courtship she agreed to marry him.

But a scorpion had already begun to emerge from beneath the stone of the local community, who considered that Ward had betrayed their expectations, and had led on and cruelly deserted Daisy. There followed a series of reprisals on his family, one of them serious enough to cause him to exact a terrible revenge; and these events would twist and turn the course of many lives through Ward's own and succeeding generations.

THE MALTESE ANGEL displays Catherine Cookson at her towering best in this immensely powerful novel which spans more than three decades, from the 1880's through to the First World War, and reaffirms yet again the author's standing as the best-loved and most widely read of today's story-tellers.

Northern Forest Canoe Trail Islands And Farms Region, Vermont: Lake Champlain and Missisquoi River (Northern Forest Canoe Trail Maps)

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Northern Forest Canoe Trail Islands And Farms Region, Vermont: Lake Champlain and Missisquoi River (Northern Forest Canoe Trail Maps)
NFCT Organization
Manufacturer: Mountaineers Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 089886996X

Book Description

These maps signal the opening of four more sections-eight of thirteen are now open-of the Northeast's new 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail, a paddle route of unique beauty and adventure.

*The official trail maps, produced by the organization that conceived, coordinated and developed it *Flows through New York, Vermont, Quebec, New Hampshire, and Maine *Maps include put-in points, portages, campsites, local contact information, and permit guidelines *Water- and tear-resistent color contour maps offer detailed toute descriptions

Book Description

Grandiose plans for land retirement and expanded irrigation have been frequently proposed for the northern Great Plains, but they have not significantly affected agricultural practices in the region.

Those major readjustments to farming methods that did occur in the region evolved out of local initiative in response to drought and depression during the 1920s. With some refinements but few amendments, procedures remain basically the same today.

In Dry Farming in the Northern Great Plains, Mary Hargreaves reviews the changes in agricultural technology and farm management through the 1920s, the introduction of federal programs as drought and depression recurred in the 1930s, and the realignment of concerns from drought to marketing instability during the recovery years that followed.

Drought remains a perennial problem in the region, which in this study includes the eastern two-thirds of Montana and the western half of the Dakotas. But instability of marketing has been a greater concern, according to Hargreaves, and marketing, not environmental factors, occasioned the land retirement programs of the 1950s and 1980s.

Despite the economy and practicability of dry farming, the national agricultural policy of acreage restrictions since the 1930s has promoted the use of costly inputs and enabled higher-cost producers to continue competitive operation.

"Misconceptions and myths have too frequently entered into national land-use planning," Hargreaves writes. "There are still those who see the Plains as a 'Great American Desert'; still those who look to irrigation as the only basis for successful agriculture there; and still those who cherish the small diversified homestead operation as the agrarian dream, regardless of the environment."

Dry farming has proved successful in the northern Great Plains, Hargreaves contends. That success is measured not only by production but also by limited erosion. On its record, dry-land agriculture should not now fall prey to "hyperbole, myth, or politics."

Book Description

Canadian Children's Book Center Choice Award

When Bibi visits her Grandpa's farm, she is happy to play where it is safe. One day Grandpa's big bull escapes from his pen, but she is not afraid. She looks the bull straight in the eye, takes a deep breath and yells as loud as she can: "III - EEE - III - EEE!"

Customer Reviews:

Fun story, Great artwork.......2000-04-26

This is a very fun story for 2 to 4 year olds aboat a little girl's visit to her grandfather's farm. The book gives good lesons about some of the dangers of farm, like a busy road, but bibi manages to get into trouble anyway (like all kids!). The charm of the story is how brave little Bibi gets herself out of trouble.

The quality and originality of the artwork is firstclass!

Fun story, Great artwork.......2000-04-26

The quality and originality of the artwork is firstclass!

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The bobwhite quail: Its propagation, preservation and increase on Georgia farms
Herbert L Stoddard
Manufacturer: State Dept. of Game and Fish
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008CA5DW

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