My name is Susie. When I was fourteen, I was murdered.
I was trapped in a perfect paradise, watching my family get lost in pain, and gradually began to forget. I know who the murderer is, but I can't communicate it, so I can only let him go unpunished.
Of course I wish Dad had been on guard all night, forever; but I also wanted him to let go and let me be a thing of the past.
After I died, everything they went through was like a stretch of lovely bones that held everyone together. I finally began to realize that without me, they could still live well, like bones in the body, although sometimes missing, but in the unknowable future will eventually grow a new backbone, become perfect again.
It was a long goodbye. When the day comes to say goodbye, I will blow out the candles and turn away...
My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her -- her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy.