The wide starlight

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Razorbill
Publication Date
[2021]
Language
English

Description

The Hazel Wood meets The Astonishing Color of After in this dreamy, atmospheric novel that follows sixteen-year-old Eli as she tries to remember what truly happened the night her mother disappeared off a frozen fjord in Norway under the Northern Lights.Never whistle at the Northern Lights, the legend goes, or they'll sweep down from the sky and carry you away.Sixteen-year-old Eline Davis knows it's true. She was there ten years ago, on a frozen fjord in Svalbard, Norway, the night her mother whistled at the lights and then vanished. Now, Eli lives an ordinary life with her dad on Cape Cod. But when the Northern Lights are visible over the Cape for just one night, she can't resist the possibility of seeing her mother again. So she whistles--and it works. Her mother appears, with snowy hair, frosty fingertips and a hazy story of where she's been all these years. And she doesn't return alone.Along with Eli's mother's reappearance come strange, impossible things. Narwhals swimming in Cape Cod Bay, meteorites landing in Eli's yard, and three shadowy princesses with ominous messages. It's all too much, too fast, and Eli pushes her mother away. She disappears again--but this time, she leaves behind a note that will send Eli on a journey across continents, to the northern tip of the world: Find me where I left you.

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ISBN
9780593116241
9780593116227

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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Lesperance weaves the myth and magic of Norwegian folklore into a realistic setting in this wintry tale of a teen searching for her long-lost mother. Eline's childhood in Svalbard, Norway, was studded with the stories her lovely but erratic mother, Silje, told her of willful princesses, wish-granting rings, hungry trolls, and helpful winds. Her mother's magic had a darkness, though, and when Eline was six, Silje disappeared into the sky with the northern lights. Now 16, Eline lives in Cape Cod with her scientist father, and her biggest concern is the hurtful betrayal of her best friend, Iris--until she receives a note, written in Norwegian and carried on the wind, telling her how to contact her mother. Eline's quest starts with the northern lights appearing in Massachusetts and eventually returns her to Svalbard, where she embarks on a dangerous arctic journey to the glacier where her mother disappeared. This is an emotionally complex tale of the love between mothers and daughters that balances between ominous and cozy, with well-realized characters and a picturesque Norwegian setting.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Lesperance gusts through parental loss, Norwegian folktales, and one's perception of others in this mourning-laced magical realist debut. Ten years prior to the start of the book, Eline's mother Silje--who raised Eline on stories and an unpredictable winter magic they shared--called down the Northern Lights and disappeared, abandoning Eline near their icy Svalbard hometown, "a tiny archipelago halfway between Norway and the North Pole." Now, Eline, 16 and living with her marine biologist father on Cape Cod, finds a mysterious letter asking her to call Silje down from the sky. But Silje's emotionally fraught return warps reality: meteorites fall, narwhals strand in the harbor, and three strange, cloaked girls haunt Eline's footsteps. When Silje disappears again to right things, Eline follows her back to arctic Svalbard--and must face Silje's mythic creatures, the complex truth of her family, and her lifelong grief. Though Lesperance gestures at rich subjects, including losing a bicultural Norwegian American heritage, the impact of unhappy childhoods, and understanding others' flaws, the themes' development and interconnection suffers amid frenetic, genre-bending pacing. Even so, this uneven but promising debut is clear-eyed on the intricacies of family. Ages 12--up. Agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary. (Feb.)

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School Library Journal Review

Gr 7 Up--Sixteen-year-old Eline Davis lives on Cape Cod with her American father. When she was little, they and her Norwegian mother, Silje, lived in Svalbard. When Eli was six, Silje took her to a glacier and whistled down the Northern Lights to take both of them away, but only her mother disappeared. Eli's felt broken ever since. Then Eli receives a mysterious letter written in Norwegian saying that Silje is close and to call her. The Northern Lights also appear over Cape Cod, so Eli tries whistling her mother back. Eli's afraid to believe it when Silje does return, not quite human. Eli starts seeing three mysterious girls in long cloaks with strange eyes skulking around. When meteorites begin falling and a pod of narwhals beach themselves on the cape, Eli realizes the longer her mother's there, the more things keep breaking down. Silje attempts to fix it and disappears again, leaving Eli a message that says, "Find me where I left you." Eli's search takes her and her father back to Svalbard to a grandmother Eli hated and the magical stories Silje used to tell Eli. This mesmerizing and sometimes heartbreaking fantasy reveals the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters while exploring mental illness, loss, regret, guilt, and forgiveness. All characters are white. VERDICT A haunting contemporary fantasy inspired by Norwegian fairy tales set on Cape Cod and on an island off Norway's coast. For fans of Emily X.R. Pan, Jaclyn Moriarty, Holly Black, Cornelia Funke, and Edith Pattou.--Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Lib., Trenton

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Kirkus Book Review

A teen goes north to reclaim a lost loved one in this modern fairy tale. Eline Davis lost her mother, Silje Lund, a decade ago, not to illness or abandonment, but to the Northern Lights, which stole Silje but left 6-year-old Eline behind on the ice. After Silje's disappearance, Eline and her father left Svalbard, Norway, for the States, and Eline's seemingly enchanted childhood succumbed to mundane reality. But life in Cape Cod is upended when she learns that her best friend, Iris, has secretly been applying to out-of-town schools and that the Northern Lights will be seen in Massachusetts, farther south than ever before. Eline's modern-day quest in search of her mother alternates with her beloved stories and those of her mother and grandmother, all framed as fairy tales, until the boundaries blur. On her journey, Eline must contend with problems both practical--frostbite, polar bears, angst--and fantastic--storybook characters springing to life, a sentient wind--while also reconciling fond memories with the reality of Silje's erratic behavior, flaws, and failures. Indebted to Norwegian folktales, Eline's adventure follows a classic arc while also benefitting from modern technology. Raised and addressed to some degree is the magic-vs.--mental illness trope. Half-American/half-Norwegian Eline reads as White. With her vividly rendered settings, emotionally complex characters, and sweet and sinister magical realism, Lesperance may be a promising successor to Alice Hoffman. Sharp and snow-dusted yet strangely cozy; a comforting winter's read. (author's note) (Fantasy. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Booklist Reviews

Lesperance weaves the myth and magic of Norwegian folklore into a realistic setting in this wintry tale of a teen searching for her long-lost mother. Eline's childhood in Svalbard, Norway, was studded with the stories her lovely but erratic mother, Silje, told her of willful princesses, wish-granting rings, hungry trolls, and helpful winds. Her mother's magic had a darkness, though, and when Eline was six, Silje disappeared into the sky with the northern lights. Now 16, Eline lives in Cape Cod with her scientist father, and her biggest concern is the hurtful betrayal of her best friend, Iris—until she receives a note, written in Norwegian and carried on the wind, telling her how to contact her mother. Eline's quest starts with the northern lights appearing in Massachusetts and eventually returns her to Svalbard, where she embarks on a dangerous arctic journey to the glacier where her mother disappeared. This is an emotionally complex tale of the love between mothers and daughters that balances between ominous and cozy, with well-realized characters and a picturesque Norwegian setting. Grades 8-11. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.
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PW Annex Reviews

Lesperance gusts through parental loss, Norwegian folktales, and one's perception of others in this mourning-laced magical realist debut. Ten years prior to the start of the book, Eline's mother Silje—who raised Eline on stories and an unpredictable winter magic they shared—called down the Northern Lights and disappeared, abandoning Eline near their icy Svalbard hometown, "a tiny archipelago halfway between Norway and the North Pole." Now, Eline, 16 and living with her marine biologist father on Cape Cod, finds a mysterious letter asking her to call Silje down from the sky. But Silje's emotionally fraught return warps reality: meteorites fall, narwhals strand in the harbor, and three strange, cloaked girls haunt Eline's footsteps. When Silje disappears again to right things, Eline follows her back to arctic Svalbard—and must face Silje's mythic creatures, the complex truth of her family, and her lifelong grief. Though Lesperance gestures at rich subjects, including losing a bicultural Norwegian American heritage, the impact of unhappy childhoods, and understanding others' flaws, the themes' development and interconnection suffers amid frenetic, genre-bending pacing. Even so, this uneven but promising debut is clear-eyed on the intricacies of family. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary. (Feb.)

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Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly Annex.
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School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 7 Up—Sixteen-year-old Eline Davis lives on Cape Cod with her American father. When she was little, they and her Norwegian mother, Silje, lived in Svalbard. When Eli was six, Silje took her to a glacier and whistled down the Northern Lights to take both of them away, but only her mother disappeared. Eli's felt broken ever since. Then Eli receives a mysterious letter written in Norwegian saying that Silje is close and to call her. The Northern Lights also appear over Cape Cod, so Eli tries whistling her mother back. Eli's afraid to believe it when Silje does return, not quite human. Eli starts seeing three mysterious girls in long cloaks with strange eyes skulking around. When meteorites begin falling and a pod of narwhals beach themselves on the cape, Eli realizes the longer her mother's there, the more things keep breaking down. Silje attempts to fix it and disappears again, leaving Eli a message that says, "Find me where I left you." Eli's search takes her and her father back to Svalbard to a grandmother Eli hated and the magical stories Silje used to tell Eli. This mesmerizing and sometimes heartbreaking fantasy reveals the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters while exploring mental illness, loss, regret, guilt, and forgiveness. All characters are white. VERDICT A haunting contemporary fantasy inspired by Norwegian fairy tales set on Cape Cod and on an island off Norway's coast. For fans of Emily X.R. Pan, Jaclyn Moriarty, Holly Black, Cornelia Funke, and Edith Pattou.—Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Lib., Trenton

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal.

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal.
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