Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Mattie Gokey has a word for everything. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories. The fresh pain of her mother's death. The burden of raising her sisters while her father struggles over his brokeback farm. The mad welter of feelings Mattie has for handsome but dull Royal Loomis, who says he wants to marry her. And the secret dreams that keep her going — visions of finishing high school, going to college in New York City, becoming a writer. Yet when the drowned body of a young woman turns up at the hotel where Mattie works, all her words are useless. But in the dead woman's letters, Mattie again finds her voice, and a determination to live her own life. Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, this coming-of-age novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original.

The 1646th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 98th on The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time: The List (The Observer)
  2. - Best Books Ever (bookdepository.com)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
Northern Lights (His Dark Materials) Hardcover 1787398 $4.09
Northern Lights: His Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 1 Audible Audio Edition 21765 $25.91 2007
Northern Lights: BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation Audio Cassette 10612969 $101.27 $8.00 2003
Philip Pullman His Dark Materials Trilogy: 3 books - The Northern Lights / The Subtle Knife / The Amber Spyglass Paperback 1513135 $38.99 1900
HIS DARK MATERIALS: THE NORTHERN LIGHTS [Paperback] NA Paperback 6582641 $14.77 2017
Northern Lights (His Dark Materials) Hardcover 1330197 $12.73 $18.67 2014
Northern Lights Audio CD 10299309 $30.75 2007
[(His Dark Materials Trilogy: "Northern Lights" WITH "The Subtle Knife" AND "The Amber Spyglass" )] [Author: Philip Pullman] [Sep-2007] Hardcover 839770 $43.92 $64.74 2007
Northern Lights: Adult Edition (His Dark Materials) Paperback 5380520 $2.69 $0.01 2001
Northern Lights (His Dark Materials 10th Anniversary Editions) Paperback 2334832 $9.89 $0.10 1998
His Dark Materials Gift Set: "Northern Lights", "The Subtle Knife", "The Amber Spyglass" Paperback 3974635 $8.95 $1.28 2001
Northern Lights Paperback 4070900 $124.99 $127.98 2009
His Dark Materials: Northern Lights (Gift Edition) Paperback 295435 $8.41 $15.31 2019
The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) Mass Market Paperback 1277092 $0.93 $0.01 1997
La brujula dorada/ Northern Lights (LA MATERIA OSCURA/ HIS DARK MATERIALS) (Spanish Edition) Hardcover 1263847 $14.49 $2.15 2017
The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1) Audio CD 11925660 $5.86
His Dark Materials: Northern Lights (Chinese Edition) Paperback 1436175 $19.99 2019
His Dark Materials Paperback 4047288 $21.59 $24.20 2011
Northern Lights Paperback 1579019 $6.79 $0.69 2013
Northern Lights Audio Cassette 11104748 $10.76 $9.68 2002
His Dark Materials Trilogy 'Northern Lights', 'the Subtle Knife', 'the Amber Spyglass Hardcover 3641085 $195.00 $36.31 2004
His Dark Materials Trilogy: Northern Lights, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass Paperback 1104177 $49.52 $6.66 2008
Northern Lights (Dramatized) Audible Audio Edition 9566 $10.95 2005
Northern Lights (His Dark Materials) Paperback 2801943 $2.25 $2.99 2015
Northern Lights: His Dark Materials 1 Audio CD 826171 $29.00 $39.83 2021
His Dark Materials: "Northern Lights" WITH "The Subtle Knife" AND "The Amber Spyglass" Paperback 2382008 $54.88 $2.23 2007
Northern Lights Adult Edition Wbn Cover (His Dark Materials) Paperback 2711023 $7.34 $6.78 2011