The Lovely Bones

Alice Sebold · first published 2002 · ISBN 9781402521157

Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by a neighbor, but her story does not end with her death. Speaking from heaven, Susie observes her family's grief and her killer's movements, watching as her parents and sister struggle to survive her absence. The novel follows these living characters as they slowly piece together what happened and learn to live with permanent loss, while Susie grapples with her own unfinished life and the question of whether forgiveness is possible.