A Psalm for Lost Girls by Katie Bayerl
Reviewed by: Tyler W.
Young Adult
Title: Psalm for Lost Girls
By: Katie Bayerl
Published: 2017
Call #: YA Fiction Bayer.K
Tess de Costa hears a voice that no one else can. When this voice tells her to save a local fisherman, everyone one in her town starts to treat her like a real life saint. They come to her for blessings and prayers and attribute all kinds of “miracles” to her. After Tess tragically dies, her mother leads the charge for the pope to officially recognize her sainthood, but the two people who knew Tess best, her sister Callie and Tess’s secret boyfriend Danny, feel this is betrayal of her memory. They remember Tess as someone who wanted to be a normal teen and only reluctantly carried the unfair expectations of an entire town. Danny and Callie set out together to sabotage the process and prove Tess was not a saint, which leads them to confront some hard truths about themselves, old family secrets, and the tragic mystery behind the kidnapping of a local girl.
A Psalm for Lost Girls doesn’t give any easy answers. Bayerl address a number of difficult issues from grief to mental illness with the thoughtfulness and gravity they deserve. Every character is vivid and feels like someone you know. Bayerl combines all this in a highly readable and fast-paced story. Fans of Jandy Nelson and Lauren Oliver will want to check this out.
Tags: teen, realistic fiction, grief