Adventures of Mary Jane

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.