Book Review for "A Gathering Light" by Jennifer Donnelly

A Gathering light

Sitting with my back to the radiator in a futile attempt to keep warm, with the wind blowing a gale outside and the prospect of snow at the back of my mind it is hard to think back to the perfect summer day that I bought “A Gathering Light.” But not too hard, because I can always remember where I read a good book ,and this is one of the best books I have ever read. Just before the summer holidays I was at Waterstone’s in York with a ten pound gift voucher .My chances of finding a decent book amongst shelves of comedy stories and vampire fiction were not looking good when I finally stumbled upon this paperback.

“A Gathering Light” was, rather unfairly I think, shoved in a far corner of the teen fiction section. Even though the target audience for the book is teenagers, I think that it would be equally as enjoyable for an adult. The language is sufficiently complex, and the plot unexpected and engaging enough to satisfy a reader of all age and ability. At first glance this book looks like just another Who dunnit. As clichéd as Hercule Poirot’s moustache. A girl gets drowned in a lake and leaves her long lost love letters to Mattie Gokey, begging her to burn them as soon as possible. But if you had the key to unravelling a story of loyalty, deceit, and murder, would you be able to resist taking a little peek?

Mattie, the main character, was born and raised in a small town near Big Bear Lake in America. In her home town everybody knows everybody and her family have lived happily for generations. Set in the early nineteen hundreds Mattie has been tied down by an obligation to look after her siblings since she promised her dying mother not to desert the family. Whilst her father labours day and night on his farm to keep the family afloat Mattie sees little of the life she dreams of. Since she was little Mattie’s only wish was to be a writer. When Mattie receives an invite to join a prestigious New York school can she really leave her whole life behind her? Not to mention her family. Can Mattie ignore the promise she made her mother on her death bed to finally chase her own dreams?

Grace Brown was a simple girl. So why did she end up in a faraway hotel? One where no one could hear you scream. And why did her canoe capsize on a perfectly still lake? And finally, most importantly, what is in her letters, and should she have left them to Mattie? The girl with the parallel life.

Jennifer Donnelly wrote a powerful book, based on a real murder, which will stay with me for a long time. At the end of the book, rather than pages of waffle to skip about inspirational people that I have never heard of, Donnelly suggests further reading on the subject of Grace Brown’s murder. Unlike other books, where I have been dreading the ending because there would be no more story, this novel finishes so perfectly and conclusively that it seems totally natural for it to end in its four hundred pages. “A Gathering light” has, quite deservedly I think, won the Carnegie medal.

If I had to point out some negatives in this otherwise wonderful book, I would just mention that the plot is a little thin towards the middle. It does come to a point where Mattie changes her mind almost every page as to whether to leave her family or run away to New York. It is also a little difficult to sympathise with her point of view at times since so many of her opinions centre around the out of date notion that women belong in the home. However, I think that trying to understand Mattie is part of the fun of the Novel. As educational nooks go this book ranks quite highly. At the start of every chapter Mattie picks a new word of the day and throughout the book this feature vastly improves your vocabulary. Mattie’s family can only just afford a dictionary to choose words from so it makes you appreciate the education that you have a little too.

At the end Grace Brown and Mattie Gokey’s stories perfectly mix and Mattie is able to draw the courage to make her choice in life from the tale of the girl she never knew. I will not tell you what Mattie decides to do, just that I can sympathise with both options. On the one hand, sitting here leaning against a radiator, vaguely warm, I can see that staying at home, staying inside, being safe and warm is an appealing option for both me and Mattie. But if I was to step outside, in to the fierce wind with the prospect of snow, I would see the stars, just as Mattie would in New York.