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. ★ "Jahren has done a heroic amount of research but most of all has told a cracking good story. This book soars : Huck Finn has met his match in a wildly appealing, smart, and courageous girl." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ "Beautifully written and rich in fully realized, memorable characters and incident, the book is a treasure . Its surprising but satisfying ending gives Huckleberry Finn a run for its money." — Booklist, starred review ★ " A rollicking adventure full of rich characterizations that will be ­enjoyed by junior high and high school readers." — School Library Journal, starred review "Hope Jahren's Adventures of Mary Jane is a marvelous mix of history and fiction in the wake of Mark Twain's magnus opus ." —Jerome Loving, author of Mark Twain: The Adventures of Samuel L. Clemens .  "Hope Jahren gives new life to Mark Twain's Mary Jane and to all her lucky readers. This lovely, generous novel takes us on 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 Hope Jahren is a teacher, scientist, and book lover living in Oslo, Norway. Recognized as one Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Jahren is the recipient of three Fulbright Awards and was named one of the Brilliant 10 by Popular Science magazine in 2005. She is the author of two works of nonfiction: T he Story of More and Lab Girl, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. Adventures of Mary Jane is her first work of fiction. CHAPTER I —­The Fire—­ We smelled the fire before we saw it. It didn’t smell like a fireplace. It didn’t smell like a campfire, either. Do you know what a musket smells like after the bullet’s been fired? Or singed hair on a branding iron? Or a shirt forgotten under the iron? Or a wet saddle too near the campfire? Or maple syrup boiled over onto coals? The fire didn’t smell like any of those things. It smelled like all of them mixed together. It wasn’t the smell of something burning. It was the smell of everything burning. It smelled like the end of the world. When we got closer to the fire, I recognized Ma by her outline. A small black figure with all Hell coming undone behind her. When we got closer still, I saw that it was her back to us. I don’t know how she stood the heat: I had to squint my eyes against the hot blast, and she was a good ten feet closer to the fire than I was. Then again, Ma is extraordinary. She’s more than tough. Her softest parts are made of steel and hard leather. And smart, too. She can tell exactly what I’m thinking, just from one look at my face. And I can from hers, too. We don’t get along overly well. I walked closer, until Ma turned around and saw me, and I saw her, against a background of heaving flame. And the look on her face said, Not again. —­Starting Over—­ We dug. We dug until we couldn’t dig anymore. And then we dug some more. Hansel tried t