I’ll Give You the Sun meets True Detective in this brilliant YA novel about saints, sisters, and learning to let go.
Tess da Costa is a saint—a hand-to-god, miracle-producing saint. At least that’s what the people in her hometown of New Avon, Massachusetts, seem to believe. And when Tess suddenly and tragically passes away, her small city begins feverishly petitioning the pope to make Tess’s sainthood official. Tess’s mother is ecstatic over the fervor, while her sister Callie, the one who knew Tess best, is disgusted—overcome with the feeling that her sister is being stolen from her all over again.
The fervor for Tess’ sainthood only grows when Ana Langone, a local girl missing for six months, is found alive at the foot of one of Tess’ shrines. It’s the final straw for Callie. With the help of Tess’ secret boyfriend Danny, Callie is determined to prove that Tess was something far more important than a saint: she was her sister, her best friend and a girl in love with a boy. But Callie’s investigation uncovers much more than she bargained for—a hidden diary, old family secrets, and even the disturbing truth behind Ana’s kidnapping.
Told in alternating perspectives, A Psalm for Lost Girls is at once funny, creepy and soulful.
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“Narrators Saskia Maarleveld, Julia Whelan, and Kyla Garcia bring to life a teenager’s journey to discover if her dead sister is truly the miracle-making modern-day saint everyone believes her to be. Maarleveld handles the bulk of the performance; her cool, casual voice is a perfect fit for the grieving Callie da Costa as she tangles with the death of her saintly sister, Tess. Garcia gives a bright and hopeful performance of Tess through the diary she left behind. Whelan ties it all together as she narrates the story of a missing child whose reappearance could be Tess’ posthumously sanctified miracle. The trio provides a performance that will awaken, or reawaken, listeners to the possibility of miracles.”
— AudioFile
“Fans of realistic fiction, mystery, or crime thrillers will find themselves at home in this spectacular debut…A compelling must-have for YA collections.”
— School Library Journal (starred review)“A gripping story of loss and grace…Richly and evocatively written.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Packed with vivid cultural scenery, this ambitious debut offers readers a journey worth taking.”
— Kirkus Reviews“Now and then comes a book that is able to put it all together: real and compelling characters, page-turning suspense, brilliant writing. This is one of those books.”
— Francisco X. Stork, author of Marcelo in the Real WorldBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
When Katie Bayerl isn’t penning stories, she coaches teens and nonprofits to tell theirs. She earned an MFA degree in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has taught creative writing in schools and a variety of community settings.
Saskia Maarleveld is an experienced voice-over actress and Earphones Award–winning narrator. Raised in New Zealand and France, she is highly skilled with accents and dialects, and many of her books have been narrated entirely in accents other than her own. In addition to audiobooks, her voice can be heard in animation, video games, and commercials.
Kyla Garcia is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. Born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, she discovered acting at the age of eight when she played Lady Macbeth in a children’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. She made her off-Broadway debut at fifteen when she played Dorothy in Oz: A Twisted Musical. Eleven years after she discovered her passion for acting, she would go on to play Lady Macbeth once again in London at the Globe Theatre, where she studied Shakespeare during her third year at Mason Gross School of the Arts. She received her BFA in acting from Rutgers University.
Julia Whelan is a novelist, screenwriter, lifelong actor, and multiple award-winning audiobook narrator. She graduated with a degree in English and creative writing from Middlebury College and Oxford University. She is a former child actor who has appeared in multiple films and television shows.