A Gathering Light

An incredible and brilliant coming-of-age drama set at the turn of the century in the USA and based on a real murder. When Mattie is given the letters by a guest at the hotel where she has a summer job, she thinks that the giver is simply upset. But the next day when the woman is found drowned in Big Moose Lake, Mattie has to decide if she will read the letters or burn them as the woman requested. Mattie faces her own problems as she grows up and considers her future. Her ambitions to be a writer and dreams of leaving her small rural community begin to overwhelm her. Will Mattie leave home? Will she abandon her family and boyfriend, who both love and smother her? Will she settle for marriage like her friend, or follow her mentor, the poet Ms. Wilcox? As the stories unfold, Mattie finds the courage to make pivotal decisions. Set in 1906 and inspired by the real-life murder of a young woman at a popular holiday resort, this novel is touching, surprising, moving, and compelling.