"Wilcox had books but no family. Minnie had a family now, but those babies would keep her from reading for a good long time. Some people, like my aunt Josie and Alvah Dunning the hermit, had neither love nor books. Nobody I knew had both."
It is the early twentieth century, and Mattie Gokey is a farm girl in the Adirondacks. Mattie is brilliant and filled with potential, but tied to her father's farm since the death of her mother and her brother's desertion. Her seemingly impossible dreams of college in New York City conflict with her loyalty to her family and her duties on the farm. When she takes a job at the Glenmore Hotel, Mattie finds herself entangled in the aftermath of a young woman's mysterious death. Mattie's story voice examines feminism, poverty, and racism set against Donnelly's romantic description of the Adirondacks at the turn of the century. I found myself wondering the same as Mattie, why can't a girl have books and boys? Oh, and the part about the mysterious death is a true story!
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SLJ reccommends grades 8 and up.
