Northern Light

Set against the backdrop of 1909 New York, this novel follows Mattie Boyd, a sharp-witted teenager from the Adirondacks who dreams of pursuing higher education and a career in journalism. When her mother’s sudden death disrupts the family’s fragile stability, Mattie becomes entangled in a local murder investigation that mirrors the era’s rigid class divisions and limited opportunities for women. Interwoven with her fictional narrative are carefully curated historical documents—newspaper clippings, passenger manifests, and personal correspondence—that chronicle the final voyage of the RMS Titanic. Through this dual structure, the story examines how personal grief and collective tragedy intersect, while exploring the transformative power of writing as both a means of processing loss and a tool for social change. The novel’s archival framing device grounds its emotional core in meticulously researched early twentieth-century history, offering readers a layered meditation on ambition, memory, and the voices historically marginalized in traditional accounts of the past.