First Light - by Rebecca Stead (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Peter is thrilled to join his parents on an expedition to Greenland. But when they finally reach the ice cap, he struggles to understand a series of frightening yet enticing visions.

Thea has never seen the sun. Her extraordinary people, suspected of witchcraft and nearly driven to extinction, have retreated to a secret world they've built deep inside the arctic ice.

As Thea dreams of a path to Earth's surface, Peter's search for answers brings him ever closer to her hidden home in this dazzling tale of mystery, science, and adventure at the top of the world.

"A mystic thriller." --Entertainment Weekly

"Optimistic science fiction that highlights human ingenuity and survival under dire conditions." --The Wall Street Journal

Review Quotes

"Peter and Thea are vividly realized. . . . Gracehope itself is sketched with sure strokes, its icy setting and its matriarchal social structure fresh and believable."--The Horn Book Magazine

"Stead's debut novel rests on an intriguing premise. . . . It is a testament to the storytelling that the existence of this parallel world and the convergence of Peter and Thea's stories, told in separate chapters, are both credible and absorbing. Young readers will find this a journey worth taking."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

REBECCA STEAD is the author of When You Reach Me, which was a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Newbery Medal and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction, and Liar & Spy, which was also a New York Times bestseller, won the Guardian Prize for Children's Fiction, and was on multiple state master lists and best of the year lists. She also wrote Goodbye Stranger, which was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book for Fiction and a New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of First Light, which was nominated for many state awards. Her latest book, The List of Things that Will Not Change, has received eight starred reviews. She lives in New York City with her family. Visit her online at rebeccasteadbooks.com and on Twitter @rebstead.