Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (0-374-32091-8)
Fifteen-year-old Liz Hall finds herself floating in a cruise ship on the ocean with a roommate who has a bullet hole in the back of her head. Though evidence is all around her, Liz takes a long time to realize that she is dead and headed to Elsewhere. Elsewhere is where all dead souls go to live their lives backwards, so Liz will become younger and younger until she is a newborn baby and is sent back to earth. Liz’s grandmother is there to meet her and give her a place to stay, but Liz is unable to deal with her death and spends a lot of time gazing back at earth watching her family try to put the pieces back together. It is not until she tries a desperate act to reach her family that she begins to realize that there is a life for her on Elsewhere.
This book is breathtakingly haunting and rich. Impossible to put down, the story and characters will catch you and hold you until you reluctantly finish. The setting of Elsewhere is vivid and the concept of aging backwards is ingenious. The book reads very quickly and lightly for all the depth that it has and will be a favorite among girls who like a little tragedy, angst and romance in their teen novels. This one should fly off the shelf all on its own. Beautiful.