Where the Light Shines in

"If there's one thing my thirteen years of life have taught me, it's that having parents who love you doesn't erase the somebody else who brought you into the world."

Despite being adopted into a loving family, thirteen-year-old Gloria feels as if her life is a bit too much like the crossword puzzles she and her dad enjoy solving together: too many empty spaces and not enough clues.

For as long as she can remember, Gloria has studied the faces of random women in the hopes of finding her birth mother. But when she finally lands on the perfect candidate, it's in a place she never could have expected--an obituary photo. Determined to learn more about this dead woman who looks just like her, Gloria embarks on a secret mission to fill in the gaps of her origin story.

At first, finding answers about her past feels exactly right. But as the lies Gloria tells keep piling up, and as each step toward her biological family takes her farther from the parents who have loved her forever, she starts to wonder if she'll ever be able to fill her empty spaces. Because how can you feel truly whole when you're shattering from the inside out?

In the sixth grade, Jenny Mattern's teacher wrote a note at the top of one of her stories telling her to keep up the "great" work. The quotation marks around the word great have haunted her ever since. In addition to creating heartwarming tales that she hopes will finally meet Mrs. G's approval, Jenny spends her free moments writing poetry, experimenting with new recipes, and chasing the high of her September 2024 Wordle-in-one.

Born and raised in the Seattle area, Jenny now lives in Montana with her family and a menagerie of pets. Where the Light Shines In is her debut novel.