The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

“The lovely bones” was written by Alice Sebold, born in Antigo, Wisconsin in 1963. When the book was published in 2002, it became a great success.

It´s a fantasy-novel that takes place in the suburb somewhere in America during the seventies, when people still thought the best of each other.

The young narrator and main character, Susie Salmon is a fourteen year old schoolgirl with a crush on her classmate, his name is Ray Singh, the new boy from England. Early in the book Susie is brutally raped and murdered by Mr. Harvey in a cornfield, underground. And throughout the book we get to follow her story both on earth but mostly from her perspective in heaven. Or as she calls it, the in-between.

Susie´s father, Mr. Jack Salmon is a good man and has a beautiful father-daughter relationship with Susie. He´s the one struggling most to find Susie and won’t give up, even thou his marriage with Susie´s mother Abbey is falling apart. He becomes suspicious and starts his own investigation when the police eventually give up. Abbey deals with the loss by escaping, abandoning her family when they need her the most.

Grandma Lyn comes to the rescue and moves in to help the family, a determined woman with humor and a strong personality. She practically raises Buckley, Susie’s little brother and she helps out with the house. Susie’s sister, Lindsey, doesn’t get that much attention at first, but after a while, when she grows up and turns in to a young woman she has a crucial role finding out the truth about Susie.

Mr. Harvey is the neighbor across the street. A man who has murdered before and is well aware of the details that has to be taken care of. He´s that kind of man who no one knows anything about, on the surface he seems to be the perfect gentleman. But no one knew he killed Susie.

The book starts with the lovely and innocent Susie telling us quite frank and honest:

"My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered." In the in-between she meets a girl named Holly, and all the other women Mr. Harvey killed before her.

With fantasy and expressive words the writer explains Susie´s heaven and you immediately feel fascinated and somehow, humble and not so afraid of death. You start hoping that life after death is as beautiful as in Susie´s heaven and that maybe you also have someone there, watching over you like a guardian angel. With warmth and small glints of humor mixed with the horrible fate the author manages to make me want to read more.

I think it´s important when you read the book to keep an open mind to fantasy and illusionary things, because this vivid story swings between what’s real and what’s not. I can recommend this book to people who likes good and captivating books, whether you believe in life after death or not.