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A Psalm for Lost Girls
by
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
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Hardcover, 363 pages
Published
March 14th 2017
by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
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Katie Bayerl
Yes! I have a second book (not a sequel) coming from Putnam Books for Young Readers. The release date is still TBD. :)
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Start your review of A Psalm for Lost Girls
I'm really cautious when anyone says "the writing's like Jandy Nelson's," because what could ever live up to that? Um, this book. Absolutely this book.
A Psalm for Lost Girls is at once literary and supremely accessible. This novel is so many things: the story of a desperate small town, of sisters, of love, fear, the possibility of miracles. The premise gripped me immediately (my grabby hands have been all over this book since its announcement), but it was the complex plot and gorgeous language ...more
A Psalm for Lost Girls is at once literary and supremely accessible. This novel is so many things: the story of a desperate small town, of sisters, of love, fear, the possibility of miracles. The premise gripped me immediately (my grabby hands have been all over this book since its announcement), but it was the complex plot and gorgeous language ...more
Katie Bayerl's debut, A PSALM FOR LOST GIRLS, is incredibly lovely--a psalm to friendship and sisterhood and loss and the inexplicable things that make up our faith. I've always loved George Eliot's Middlemarch, and I'm fascinated by her premise: how a woman with the ardency and spiritual fire of St. Theresa might fare in the 19th century. Here, Bayerl offers a 21st century response to that same question. What does a saint look like in a secular world?
Tess da Costa was seen as a saint by her ci ...more
Tess da Costa was seen as a saint by her ci ...more
I got to blurb this book, and here's what I wrote:
A mystery, a thriller, and a prayer, gripping and anguished, told in the poignant weaving of voices from beyond and voices left behind. – Julie Berry, Printz Honor author of The Passion of Dolssa
This debut novel is fantastic, doing all things well: setting (you can slice it), sexual tension (you won't want to slice it), vividly distinct characters, psychological tension (superbly thrillery), the whodunit (smart & tight), and most of all, heart. T ...more
A mystery, a thriller, and a prayer, gripping and anguished, told in the poignant weaving of voices from beyond and voices left behind. – Julie Berry, Printz Honor author of The Passion of Dolssa
This debut novel is fantastic, doing all things well: setting (you can slice it), sexual tension (you won't want to slice it), vividly distinct characters, psychological tension (superbly thrillery), the whodunit (smart & tight), and most of all, heart. T ...more
2.5 stars. This is perhaps one of the most disappointing books I read in 2017. Psalm For Lost Girls starts out as a decent suspense novel with an especially nice writing style, but it falls apart quickly in the second half.
Psalm For Lost Girls has a fantastic premise. Protagonist Katie tries to cope with the recent death of her sister, who is praised as a saint throughout her town. It's a book all about how belief can turn to idolization quickly.
The first half of this book is, admittedly, high ...more
Psalm For Lost Girls has a fantastic premise. Protagonist Katie tries to cope with the recent death of her sister, who is praised as a saint throughout her town. It's a book all about how belief can turn to idolization quickly.
The first half of this book is, admittedly, high ...more
I have to admit that this book is aspirational for me. As someone who is currently writing a YA mystery/thriller, I know how difficult it is balance the building of suspense and construction of plot with character development and emotional depth, and this book has it all. The prose is taut and tight and often beautiful. The examination of grief and its transformative effects is thorough and real, and the story itself is gripping and compelling and unique. I loved the different POVs that allowed
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This book is thick with gorgeous writing, nuanced characters, and heart-stopping tension. Katie Bayerl writes with precision. The story unfolds gracefully. I wanted to read this slowly to soak up the beautiful language in some moments. Delicious!
WOW this book blew me away on so many levels! The narrative is tight, the characters are real--I'm not someone who binges on books, but I couldn't put this down! "A Psalm for Lost Girls" combines so many things you wouldn't expect to see lined up together: modern day sainthood, mental illness, girl abductions--it's wonderfully bizarre, thought-provoking, dark, and hopeful all at the same time. It paints the complexity of being human: that even saints desire more than holiness, that love can be j
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I loved the premise of this book, so I was pretty eager for it.
I liked Callie well enough. She's abrasive and maybe a bit mean and it all makes sense as to why. Danny was sweet and maybe a bit naive. I really enjoyed seeing their interactions together. The best part of the story was getting the journal entries from Tess and how she saw everything that was happening.
The plot was interesting and boring at the same time. Things moved quite slowly, but I was fully invested in seeing how it played ...more
I liked Callie well enough. She's abrasive and maybe a bit mean and it all makes sense as to why. Danny was sweet and maybe a bit naive. I really enjoyed seeing their interactions together. The best part of the story was getting the journal entries from Tess and how she saw everything that was happening.
The plot was interesting and boring at the same time. Things moved quite slowly, but I was fully invested in seeing how it played ...more
This layered mystery expertly weaves together so many elements: family history and resentments, sisterly love and jealousy, community values and social mores, faith and an unsolved crime. At the heart of the story are sisters Tess and Callie da Costa, teen daughters of a single mom with deep roots in the New Avon community. At the risks of revealing spoilers, I'll avoid explaining too much plot other than to say that Tess is already dead when the book begins, but her diaries tell her side of the
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SO GOOD!!! I loved this book so much. Callie is such an amazing character--you can tell she's so troubled by the loss of her beloved sister and you go through every feeling with her. She's very believable and relatable. Danny, though less developed purely by dint of him not having a voice except through Callie's view of him, was a lovable character who I absolutely rooted for every step of the way. And making Tess, a dead possible saint believable through her journal entries was just brilliant.
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Gorgeous and immersive, with a beating heart that leaps off the page. A unique story with complex, nuanced characters and beautifully rendered sibling relationships.
From the very first pages, this book gripped me! I had in our living room and my guy picked it up and said, "that title is really interesting." I told him, "it frames the whole story in such a powerful way." I thought it was cool how even my husband, who doesn't read any YA, was intrigued.
As far as the novel goes, I loved how it examined faith, relationships, and love in all their many broken and beautiful expressions. I would highly recommend this novel--it delivers on its title! ...more
As far as the novel goes, I loved how it examined faith, relationships, and love in all their many broken and beautiful expressions. I would highly recommend this novel--it delivers on its title! ...more
Yet another book reinforcing the stigma against mentally ill people as dangerous and monstrous. Stop writing mentally ill people as villains who kidnap children. Stop making them out to be monsters. Just stop. It's extremely harmful and ableist.
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A town desperate for hope, a girl plagued by visions and voices, and the people caught in between -
Bayerl's literary YA debut masterfully weaves the competing desires, loves, fears, and needs of all. I was so taken by this book - from the characters your heart aches for, tough questions about what it means to love and lose and remember, to the skillful layering of plot, to the author's obvious way with words, it was hard to put down.
Teens and adults alike are going to be falling for this one. T ...more
Bayerl's literary YA debut masterfully weaves the competing desires, loves, fears, and needs of all. I was so taken by this book - from the characters your heart aches for, tough questions about what it means to love and lose and remember, to the skillful layering of plot, to the author's obvious way with words, it was hard to put down.
Teens and adults alike are going to be falling for this one. T ...more
Gorgeous writing. Fascinating premise. Characters so real I could hear them in my mind as I went about my day.
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A beautifully written, gripping story about sisterhood, sainthood, and grief, tethered to a mystery that's equally entrancing. The fictional New Avon felt so true to life to this reader who grew up near the border of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Highly recommended for fans of mysteries, lyrical writing, and contemporary YA with a hint of magical realism.
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Omg. For me, this book was amazing. I'm Catholic - so I get the whole saint thing. I've lost many people in my life - I get the whole overwhelming grief thing. I had a mother who was like the mother in this book - totally captivated by one child. I got every single subtle nuance in this book.
I absolutely and completely loved it ...more
I absolutely and completely loved it ...more
"A saint has to be good, right? Virtuous. She has to follow the teachings of the Church. If it came to it, all we'd have to do is show them that Tess was never perfect, never close."
This book's been on my TBR for about 4 years now, and today I must unfortunately say that... is that it? I did like the writing, finding it poignant and even some insightful scenes, but other than that it's just mediocre. To me the mystery fell flat and somehow I felt that nothing happened for like 300 pages, which i ...more
This book's been on my TBR for about 4 years now, and today I must unfortunately say that... is that it? I did like the writing, finding it poignant and even some insightful scenes, but other than that it's just mediocre. To me the mystery fell flat and somehow I felt that nothing happened for like 300 pages, which i ...more
This is not a book that you can stick a genre on, but that's a plus in my view. Callie is dealing with the recent death of her older sister Tess, complicated by that fact that a couple of years before her death Tess had been hearing voices that her mom and the religious community viewed as miracles from God. Now Tess is up for sainthood, and Callie is trying to prevent that from happening. She's angry that her sister can't just be left in peace, angry that Tess endured so much grief and anger di
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I now have another reason why I don't like reading YA....
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I found this one hard to put down. Faith, sisters, grief, family--so much depth.
This is the best, if not one of the best books I have read. I really got connected to all the characters and I even cried. I seriously recommend this book. You're missing out if you don't give it a try. The story is phenomenal. I can't put into words how much I enjoyed this that someone else would understand. The best way to explain it is for you to read the book and feel it yourself.
I'm so serious, READ IT!!!!! (I need to calm down) ...more
I'm so serious, READ IT!!!!! (I need to calm down) ...more
The Good
- The original mystery/ kidnapping was intriguing although it wasn't wholly original if you've seen a lot of crime TV dramas like I have
- It appeared to take place in a lower income neighborhood with primarily Latinx people, but nothing was ever explicitly stated
-The mash-up between first person narrative and past journal entries helped flesh out the characters, relationship between Callie and Tess, and how everything tied together
-The sibling relationship was realistic and didn't push t ...more
- The original mystery/ kidnapping was intriguing although it wasn't wholly original if you've seen a lot of crime TV dramas like I have
- It appeared to take place in a lower income neighborhood with primarily Latinx people, but nothing was ever explicitly stated
-The mash-up between first person narrative and past journal entries helped flesh out the characters, relationship between Callie and Tess, and how everything tied together
-The sibling relationship was realistic and didn't push t ...more
This was absolutely not for me. It has an interesting premise: Tess is widely believed to be a saint by her neighborhood, but they begin to lose faith in her when a young girl goes missing and Tess can't locate her. Then Tess dies unexpectedly, leaving her younger sister, Cal, reeling. The missing girl is then found at a shrine to Tess, sparking a fervor to have the posthumous event declared a miracle and Tess an official saint. Cal doesn't want this to happen, so she teams up with Tess's secret
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“No one ever talks about this side of sainthood, do they? They ask what the saints can do for them, but no one ever asks a girl if she wants to be their savior. They definitely don’t ask her sister.”
3.5/5
This was a unique story about sainthood, miracles, and small-town life, with a light mystery aspect.
Callie’s sister Tess is believed to be a saint and the fervor only increases after her untimely death. Callie is an atheist and hates the sainthood stuff, which she feels took her sister from h ...more
3.5/5
This was a unique story about sainthood, miracles, and small-town life, with a light mystery aspect.
Callie’s sister Tess is believed to be a saint and the fervor only increases after her untimely death. Callie is an atheist and hates the sainthood stuff, which she feels took her sister from h ...more
I tried to like this book but I just couldn't get into it. It took me 7 days to finish it, first time this ever happens. It's not a bad book, I just couldn't get into it that's all. Everything was done well. The writing, the characters, plot, everything but it wasn't the book for me. Love the ending though and the dog.
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This is the sort of book that stays with you for a long time. It consumes you while you're reading it and it haunts you for weeks afterwards. Aspects of the real world along with the supernatural (or is it?) and vivid imagery combine to make for a thoughtful read.
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Stunning debut. My reading life is all the richer for this novel.
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When Katie Bayerl isn’t penning stories, she's coaching teens to tell theirs. A PSALM FOR LOST GIRLS is Katie's debut young adult novel. Katie is a proud graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts Writing for Children and Young Adults program and teaches in Grub Street's creative writing program. She has an incurable obsession with saints, bittersweet ballads, and murder. It’s becoming a problem
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