The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

There's a moment in every child's life where they make a transition from seeing their parents and family as this mythical, secure unit to realizing they're people, full of flaws, beauty, truth, and lies. When Susie Salmon is murdered at the beginning of The Lovely Bones, she finds she's able to peacefully float through her family's life as they recover and move on from her death. She doesn't haunt them so much as she is haunted by them. Her departure becomes the catalyst for a myriad of changes in the lives of those that knew her. Some of the changes are huge and life changing, others are small changes in direction, lacking immediate impact but having a greater effect on the future.

Susie watches her first crush move on, her parents grow apart, her sister's approach into womanhood, all while learning what it means to grow up, to let go. The story weaves effortlessly between the lives of her family, her friends, and the rapist that killed her.

Sebold made waves with this book when it arrived in 2003, and rightfully so. The book is a rush, a coming of age tale unlike any in modern literature.