This is a terrific novels about family, ambition, dilemma and strength. The lead character is a young woman who is a writer. This is very well-done and well-written; reads beautifully. ( )

My all time favorite young-adult novel! We listened to Hope Davis read this historically anchored story as a family and everyone loved it. Some adult themes but everyone's over 13 and coped well. Fascinating look at a family, one girl's dream, the meaning of words and finding the truth. ( )

3.5 Stars ( )

This historical young adult novel is set against the backdrop of the events which inspired Theodire Dreisel’s “An American Tragedy.” Matilda “Mattie” Gokey is the eldest of four sisters, and at sixteen, is responsible for their household which also includes a grieving father and a lazy old dog. Keeping track of her three sisters and keeping food on the table is challenging enough without their father’s stubborn insistence on making the farm successful. Mattie’s brother Lawson left the family when he was sixteen, and their father is bitter and angry at only having daughters left. Still, despite this harsh environment, Mattie revels in school and hopes to go away to college in New York. Part of her plan is to work at the Glenmore, a nearby hotel, in order to make money, and after finally convincing her father to let her go, Mattie finds herself caught up in the drama surrounding the discovery of Grace Brown’s body. And Mattie is the only one who really knows what might have happened, since Grace entrusted her with letters, instructing her to burn them.

This is a fast-paced, intriguing novel. I enjoyed the fact that it would encourage readers to also check out Dreisel’s novel, the film, and other books about the case. The book is well-researched, and takes many quotes from Brown’s letters. Secondary characters, such as the black boy Weaver who fights against racism, and the poet Emily Wilcox who is hiding from her husband, add to the setting of the story and help explain the society in which Mattie lives. An excellent selection for historical fiction. ( )

[This is a review I wrote in 2007]

Step back a hundred years to rural US and life as it was for those struggling to put food on their tables in the first decade of the twentieth century. Meet 16-year-old Mattie (Matilda), who loves books and learning and writing stories, but who is sidelining her dreams to look after her younger sisters and put food on the table for the family, following the death of their mum.

Mattie and her best friend Royal have dreams of going to college, but life is pretty tough for them both and money hard to come by. They both go to work at a big hotel nearby over the tourist season. One day one of the guests is found washed up, drowned, on the shore of the lake. Her companion is missing, presumed drowned. Mattie, however, comes to suspect foul play... can she resist the temptation of reading the letters that drowned girl gave her to burn, or will they hold the key?

This is a wonderfully sensitive novel, beautifully written with intricate detail of everyday tasks which help to bring the pages to life. A must read. ( )