A Northern Light (Jennifer Donnelly)

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has a word for everything, and big dreams of becoming a writer but little hope of seeing them come true.

With the fresh pain of her mother's death lingering over her and the only out from her impoverished life being marriage to the handsome but dull local rich boy, Mattie flees from her home.  She takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of aburning a secret bundle of letters.  But when Grace's drowned body is fished from Big Moose Lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder. (from amazon.com)

Where can I find it?: Upper School library, Walczak building

Tags: Bildungsromans; Education; Farm life; Fiction; Historical fiction; History; Hotels; Murder; Murder--Fiction; New York (State); New York (State)--Adirondack Mountains; Young adult fiction; Young adult works