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Start giftingLight from a Distant Star
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Learn moreA gripping coming-of-age novel with a murder at its heart and a heroine as unforgettable as Harper Lee’s Scout
Light from a Distant Star is the moving and powerful story of innocence and betrayal told in the endearingly wise voice of thirteen-year-old Nellie Peck. It is early summer, and her beloved father’s business is failing. Her mother has to go back to work, and Nellie’s older half sister has launched a troubling search for her birth father. Forced to take care of her shy younger brother, Nellie is determined to make him—and herself—toughen up. Three strangers enter Nellie’s protected life: mysterious and brutish Max Devaney works in her grandfather’s junkyard, the thieving Bucky Saltonstall has just arrived from New York City, and Dolly Bedelia, a young stripper who rents the small apartment in the back of the Pecks’ house, becomes the titillating focus of Nellie’s eavesdropping.
Nellie is justly proud of her own infallible lie detector until violence erupts in her young life and she is silenced by fear and scandal. The truth as she believes it is shocking and unthinkable, and with everyone’s eyes riveted on her in the courtroom, Nellie finds herself compromised by moral confusion. No one will listen, no one believes her, and a man’s life hangs in the balance.
A stunning evocation of innocence lost, Light from a Distant Star stands as one of the most engaging novels yet from the bestselling author of Songs in Ordinary Time.
Mary McGarry Morris is the author of several highly acclaimed novels. Entertainment Weekly included Fiona Range on its list of the best books of 2000, Vanished was nominated for both the National Book Award and the Pen/Faulkner Award, A Dangerous Woman was made into a feature film starring Debra Winger in 1993, and Songs in Ordinary Time was a 1997 Oprah’s Book Club Selection.
Amy Rubinate has narrated over 250 audiobooks and has won multiple Earphones Awards. She has a degree in the oral interpretation of literature, and she has won several state and national awards for poetry reading. A voice actor and singer for over a decade, she has also narrated many children's books and provided character voices for toys and video games.
Reviews
“Mary McGarry Morris doesn’t so much tell a story as spin a delicate and powerful web. With her elegant prose, beautifully drawn characters, and perfect pitch dialog, she lured me in. And with her intense and gripping plot, she had me ensnared. I was in love with the sensitive, smart, and plucky Nellie from the very first moment I met her, and I’ll be thinking of her for a good long time. Light from a Distant Star is a wonderful, powerful novel not to be missed.”
“Offers a timeless and timely look at small-town life, as seen by wise, verbose, and intensely naïve thirteen-year-old heroine Nellie Peck…Morris’ page-turner, (which evokes To Kill a Mockingbird) will satisfy her fans and send new readers searching for her earlier titles.”
“While the story is seen through Nellie’s eyes as she struggles to find her voice in the world, Rubinate also does a wonderful job of making the supporting characters come to life, including the breathy and bubbly Dolly and the gruff but likable Max, two characters whose voices reflect their dual natures.”
“An engaging coming-of-age story and a dark tale of murder and its aftermath in a small, sleepy town…Morris skillfully traces Nellie’s gradual realization that reputations are not always what they seem and that the truth must come out no matter the cost.”
“Teens will readily identify with the true awkwardness of age 13, the time when one is alternately ‘old enough to know better,’ and ‘too young to understand’…Morris possesses the ability to speak for those who struggle to find a voice in greater society while creating an intriguing plot to keep the pages rolling.”
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