The bestselling award-winning author of Lab Girl reimagines the world Mark Twain’s Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of a smart and determined young woman: Mary Jane
the red-headed spark who stole Huck’s heart. “A journey not just along the Mississippi but
to the center of the human heart.”—Jennifer Finney Boylan author of She's Not There and
co-author of Mad Honey A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR • A KIRKUS REVIEWS
BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Meet Mary Jane Guild. She’s on a dangerous and unpredictable adventure
down the Mississippi River—and she’ll steal Huck Finn’s heart along the way. In his classic
work Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain briefly introduces "Mary Jane the red-headed
one." In no time Mary Jane becomes the girl Huck thinks about "a many and a many million
times." Now author Hope Jahren has created for Mary Jane a life as vivid and compelling as
Huck's. These pages will show you the real Mary Jane. A girl on her own dangerous
unpredictable journey down the Mississippi River in pre-Civil War America. Equipped with an
uncanny ability for mathematics a talent for sewing and a bale of beaver skins Mary Jane
navigates deadly illnesses angry mobs treacherous landowners outright thieves and swindlers
and more than a thousand miles of muddy water. What’s more she thrives in the face of these
challenges thanks to support from strangers who become friends. Traveling solo requires Mary
Jane to grow up fast but it ultimately leads her to a new resilience a love of adventure
deep and enduring sisterhood and a blue-eyed ponytailed boy she can’t stop thinking about.
Jahren offers a wealth of layered characters and deeply researched authentic details of
changing times in the North and South. Using the language and style of Twain and shifting the
point of view she explores timeless themes of duty family romance and betrayal with grit
and courage at the core.
