The Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, Read by Hope Davis

I know I read this years ago, but I didn't blog about it, although I gave it five stars on LibraryThing. This book was nominated for the mystery category for Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, so I decided to listen to it to remind me of its greatness. I've read a lot of YA books in the past ten years and now my ratings have changed--this is a 4 star now. Why? I thought the plot was slow in the middle. The whole action takes place in one night when Mattie is given letters to burn from a woman who dies in a boating accident. While working at the hotel, she tries to find a time to read them, and finally does at night. But the majority of the story is told in flashbacks, and I found myself saying, "Just get back to the dead girl, why don't you!?" However, the setting of the Adirondacks in 1906 is awesome, and something not seen much in YA literature. The Printz committee awarded this as an honor book in 2004. It's a good, quiet mystery that I can easily recommend to my wanna-be female writers.