The Lovely Bones is a novel which tells the story of Susie Salmon, a fourteen-year-old girl murdered in the early 1970s. After her death, Susie watches her loved ones cope with their loss from Heaven, witnessing the detectives try and fail to discover her murderer, her parents marriage fall apart, and her siblings and classmates grow up and move on. Though Susie will never be able to rejoin the living, watching over them enables her, and those she left behind, to eventually find peace.
Susie Salmon, the fourteen year old narrator, is murdered on December 6, 1973. Her murderer is Mr. Harvey, a neighbor on her street liked by both her parents.
Mr. Harvey approaches Susie in the cornfield as she is taking a shortcut home. She has never spoken to him before, but does not feel uncomfortable because her parents know him. He asks her to come see something he has built. He then calls her Susie, which strikes her as odd because she never told him her name.
He tells her he built a hiding place in the ground, and he and Susie crawl into the hiding place. Susie notices a mirror, razor, and shaving cream in the dug-out, which causes her to wonder about him. He tells her he built the dug-out as a clubhouse for the kids in the neighborhood. Susie does not believe him and feels sorry for him.
Mr. Harvey asks Susie if she has a boyfriend. She tries to leave, but he will not let her. He knocks her to the ground and starts kissing her. She begs him to stop and he stuffs her hat into her mouth. He rapes her. Afterwards, he tells her to get up and tell him she loves him. He takes out a knife and kills her.
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