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Sixteen-year-old Eline Davis still struggles to come to terms with what happened the night her mother left her. Some called it an accident. Some called it suicide. Only Eli knows the truth. Arctic legend says if you whistle at the Northern Lights, they’ll swoop down and carry you off forever. It happened to her mother that night on the remote glacier in Svalbard: Her mother whistled, then vanished.
Now, years later, Eli lives with her dad on Cape Cod. They’ve carved out a life for themselves — one with a mother-shaped hole — but when Eli discovers the Northern Lights will be visible for one night, she hatches a plan to contact her missing mother. The plan doesn’t appear to work, until her mother arrives suddenly with a hazy story of where she’s been these many years.
The truth is wrapped in legend and story and magic, and Eli knows no one would believe her if she told them. So she keeps it a secret — for now — until she can sort through her own feelings. But soon magical, dangerous things begin happening: narwhals appearing in Cape Cod Bay, meteorites landing in their front yard, and three shadowy fairy tale princesses whispering ominous messages.
Eli isn’t sure what to think or to feel. She misses her mother — she loves her mother — but the memory of being abandoned is hard to forget and even harder to forgive. When her mother disappears again, though, leaving a note that says, Find me where I left you, Eli knows she’ll have to go back to Svalbard and face the past if she hopes to have any future with her mother.
The Wide Starlight is a rare gem that swerves hard from the typical young adult formula. If you’re hoping for romance or a whimsical fairy tale, isn’t isn’t it. The heart of the story focuses instead on the relationship between a daughter and mother and the darker tones of abandonment and grief. Coupled with the writing style, that makes this book a poignant, bittersweet read that packs quite the emotional punch.
Stories within stories are artfully woven into the pages and alternate between the present and the past (when Eli lived in a green house at the top of the world) while also texturing in stories of her mother and her grandmother. The plot also manages to weave in lesser-known Norwegian fairy tales, adding a surreal, magical, creepy tone to the story.
Overall, this book is a deeply emotional tale that captured me immediately and completely, and the gorgeous, atmospheric writing makes Nicole Lesperance a must-watch debut author.
Rated: Moderate, for two uses of strong language and two uses of mild language. There are also strong themes of grief, loss, and mourning.
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