Nicole Lesperance grew up on Cape Cod and graduated from Wesleyan University. She spent a few years in London and now lives near Boston with her husband, two kids, and two rambunctious black cats. She writes YA and middle grade books. Follow her on Twitter @niclesperance or visit her online at NicoleLesperance.com.

PERFECT BLEND OF COMMERCIAL AND LITERARY: Like Melissa Albert, Laura Ruby, and Nova Ren Suma's novels, Nicole Lesperance's YA debut combines an intriguing commercial hook-the disappearance of Eli's mother-with gorgeous lyrical writing and fairytale elements. The reading experience is dreamy and intense, making the pages fly by.HEARTFELT MOTHER/DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP: The Wide Starlight is full of magic and mystery, but at its core it is a book about mothers and daughters across several generations. The bond between Eli and her mother Silje is the beating heart of this story. Their relationship is heartbreaking, hopeful, and very, very real. This is the perfect book for girls 12+ to read with their moms, grandmas, sisters, aunts, or any strong females in their lives!VIVID, EVOCATIVE SETTINGS: Set in Cape Cod in the dead of winter and Svalbard, Norway, The Wide Starlight transports the reader to two distinct and magical places. Nicole's world building is nuanced and detailed, with vivid descriptions of the snowy, rugged Massachusetts coastline and the stark beauty of a little village in Norway nestled in the icy tundra under the Northern Lights.

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.