I was imagining him. There was a real, flesh-and-blood boy drowning in the lake. No illusions. No hallucinations.
… I couldn’t let this boy die as well.
When Jewel sees a boy drowning in the lake, she is instantly reminded of her brother’s death, and is determined not to let this boy drown, too. Jewel has recently returned to her childhood town, trying to keep her own head above water following the recent death of the grandparents who have raised her since her brother’s death eight years before.
Sacha, the boy Jewel saves, isn’t sure he wants to be saved. Not yet over the death of his mother, he has just been told he has a terminal disease. Oh, and made the discovery that his father is gay. In or out of the lake, it seems he’s going to drown regardless.
Girl Saves Boy deals with a heap of issues, most predominant that of teens facing the death of loved ones, and their own mortality, but does so in a warm, engaging story which will have readers alternately laughing, crying and sighing at its beauty. The subject matter could be heavy, but Bowe balances the tale adeptly.
Wonderful.
Girl Saves Boy, by Steph Bowe
Text Publishing, 2010
ISBN 9781921656590
This book is available from good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.