---
product_id: 1219886
title: "A Northern Light Paperback – Abridged, September 1, 2004"
brand: "jennifer donnelly"
price: "S$18"
currency: SGD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.sg/products/1219886-a-northern-light-paperback-abridged-september-1-2004
store_origin: SG
region: Singapore
---

# A Northern Light Paperback – Abridged, September 1, 2004

**Brand:** jennifer donnelly
**Price:** S$18
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** A Northern Light Paperback – Abridged, September 1, 2004 by jennifer donnelly
- **How much does it cost?** S$18 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sg](https://www.desertcart.sg/products/1219886-a-northern-light-paperback-abridged-september-1-2004)

## Best For

- jennifer donnelly enthusiasts

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- Trusted jennifer donnelly brand quality
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## Description

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## Images

![A Northern Light Paperback – Abridged, September 1, 2004 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51xSS-iVpNL.jpg)
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    My Favoritest Book EVER!
  

*by A***F on Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2011*

Last year, I used to go every day to the library of the bank where my dad works at--I'm homeschooled, and it was the perfect place to study for upcomin' exams. There I stumbled upon a Reader's Digest Condensed Version book, which basically features 3 to 4 abridged books in one volume, and one of the novels it featured was A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly (which I later found out was called A Northern Light in the states). Since I am the queen of procrastination, I began reading it during studying and soon was so swept away by the beautiful story I couldn't stop until I was finished. And when I did reached the ending, I loved it so much I was crying and doing my best not to cheer aloud since I was in, you know, a library.So when I got the chance to order some books from Amazon some time ago, I had only a quota of four books and I selected this one first-up. My sister was confused, since she couldn't understand why I was ordering a novel I'd already read when I could order a new very-highly-anticipated one. That's because I love this novel so much it was never even a question I'd get a copy for myself. And soon after it arrived, I began reading it, tossing away the resolution to not before exams (see, exams never seem to end in my life). It was just too tempting! And the book...WOW. The condensed version did NOT do it justice. Because I savored every single word of it and only fell even more in love with it, so much that it's officially my No. 1 favorite book EVER, Hands. Down. And if you know me, you'll know it's not very easy to get that title. I love it so much I actually took a picture of it and edited it up to use it as my cellphone wallpaper.I'm super picky about my cellphone wallpaper, so this is also a Big Deal.But that's just my history with the book. And now I'll review it, and hopefully I'll do it justice so that you'll go read and fall in love with it too. I mean, it DID win the Carnegie Medal, was a Michael L. Printz Honor book, and fetched numerous blurbs as well as starred reviews, which in itself makes it a must-read book.The first time I read this novel I was a bit puzzled by the simplicity of the prose. At that time, I believed you needed to use Big Words often to be a good writer (thank you, Steph Meyer!), and this novel barely employed any. And I was struck by how, despite this, the novel read so beautifully. And that's when I learned that the best kind of writing is not the Overwrought Kind, but the one that seems utterly effortless. Mattie is a lover of all things literature, and you wouldn't believe how well the author has incorporated this fact into the story. This book pretty much nails the rule of `show, not tell'. Every day Mattie learns a new word, its origins and all, and does her best to use it in that day. And a fellow word-lover meself (actually, I can safely bet that whoever's reading this review is also fond of words, right?), I loooved this aspect.And you can see how much she loved words through the following passages:"Well, it seems to me that there are books that tell stories, and then there are books that tell truths...The first kind, they show you life like you want it to be. With villains getting what they deserve and the hero seeing what a fool he's been and marrying the heroine and happy endings and all that. Like Sense and Sensibility or Persuasion. But the second kind, they show you life more like it is. Like in Huckleberry Finn where Huck's pa is a no-good drunk and Jim suffers so. The first kind makes you cheerful and contented, but the second kind shakes you up...Why don't they tell the truth? Why don't they tell how a pigpen looks after the sow's eaten her children? Or how it is for a girl when her baby won't come out? Or that cancer has a smell to it? All those books...I bet not one of them will tell you what cancer smells like...I don't mean to be coarse. I just...I don't know why I should care what happens to people in a drawing room in London or Paris or anywhere else when no one in those places cares what happens to people in Eagle Bay.""I had looked around. I'd seen all the things she'd spoken of and more besides. I'd seen a bear cub lift its face to the drenching spring rains. And the silver moon of winter, so high and blinding. I'd seen the crimson glory of a stand of sugar maple in autumn and the unspeakable stillness of a mountain lake at dawn. I'd seen them and loved them. But I'd also seen the dark of things. The starved carcasses of winter deer. The driving fury of a blizzard wind. And the gloom that broods under the pines always. Even on the brightest of days.""What I saw next stopped me dead in my tracks. Books. Not just one or two dozen, but hundreds of them. In crates. In piles on the floor. In bookcases that stretched from floor to ceiling and lined the entire room. I turned around and around in a slow circle, feeling as if I'd just stumbled into Ali Baba's cave. I was breathless, close to tears, and positively dizzy with greed."The setting is so, so vivid, and I felt as if I were really transported back to the early 1900s. In the same way, I felt like I personally knew every character. Especially Royal, Mattie's spankin' good-looking neighbor who she's attracted to, even if she maybe shouldn't be. I distinctly remember the first time round I read this book, how my heart both soared with hers and then came crashing down when things got rough. I actually began crying and very badly wanted to punch Royal's face. Yep, my connection with this book runs VERY deep.And it's not just this: Mattie yearning to be both an educated woman and eventually an author, as well as have a family and a loving husband...it was so very relatable. Especially since I often go through the same dilemma, even in this day and age, thanks to the backward society I'm from. I remember this quote really affected me:"And I knew in my bones that Emily Dickinson wouldn't have written even one poem if she'd had two howling babies, a husband bent on jamming another one into her, a house to run, a garden to tend, three cows to milk, twenty chickens to feed, and four hired hands to cook for. I knew then why they didn't marry. Emily and Jane and Louisa. I knew and it scared me. I also knew what being lonely was and I didn't want to be lonely my whole life. I didn't want to give up on my words. I didn't want to choose one over the other. Mark Twain didn't have to. Charles Dickens didn't."So, yeah, that's my review. Jennifer Donnelly is now one of my all-time fave authors, and her novel Revolution also definitely deserves to be read. In fact, if you read both and compare then, you'll be seriously shocked the same author penned both books. I mean, yes, they're both at least partially historical, but that's kind of as far as the similarities go.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Historical fiction full of grit and hardwork!
  

*by D***Y on Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2021*

A Northern Light by Jennifer DonnellyMattie is the eldest of her three sisters and helps her father take care of everything, farm and family, since their brother Lawton left and their mother is no longer with them. Mattie loves words and treasures the dictionary she inherited from her mother. She teaches her siblings new words every day. Mattie loves to read and write and she’s attending school as often as she can to earn her high school diploma. In 1906, women didn’t have voting, purchasing, or really any legal rights. Men decided pretty much everything. There wasn’t really any birth control except abstinence so that changed the course of many lives. Mattie observes others and analyzes their actions to understand their behavior better and empathize with them. So much around her is complicated and more than the eye, or gossip, can see. She also listens to the judgmental gossip and realizes how selfish the gossiping people are and how they see that people need help but they don’t help at all, instead they just enjoy talking about them. The grit, roughness, grief, joy, hardwork, and the everyday living details are included in this story and that makes a wonderfully, realistic historical fiction read! I love Jennifer Donnelly’s writing style and have read all of her books except one, Tea Rose is on my to-be-read pile. 5 stars for a satisfying historical read!

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Ok book
  

*by K***R on Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2023*

Nice story and well written but lacking a spark I was expecting from all the other reviews. Will not recommend to my book club but to some people separately I think might enjoy it

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*Product available on Desertcart Singapore*
*Store origin: SG*
*Last updated: 2026-03-04*