Book Review: First Light, by Rebecca Stead

Twelve year old New Yorker Peter is thrilled to join his parents on an expedition to Greenland to research global warming. But when they finally reach the ice cap, Peter, a quiet boy who suffers from headaches and other strange ailments like his mother, 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 after being forced to flee their native England generations ago. Fourteen year old Thea is a direct descendant and last in the bloodline of the woman who sacrificed her life to resettle her people underneath the glaciers in the community of Gracehope. 

Thea's life is forever changed the day she and her cousin find a secret tunnel to the world above and meet Peter. Their paths and stories converge and are told in separate chapters. 

First Light  is Rebecca Stead's first novel, and you don't have to be a fan of science fiction to enjoy this absorbing and magical novel.