Their paths rarely cross even though Lisa and Meredith have adjoining lockers, but Lisa is way too cool to deign to look at Meredith – except for one time when she teases her in front of the whole school, a humiliation Meredith can’t forget.

Meredith Oliver is in grade eight at the same middle school as Lisa Bellow. The Lisa Bellow of the title is the archetypal mean schoolgirl – 14-years-old, slender, popular and very beautiful – but despite being central to this novel in many ways, it’s one of the uncool girls that this novel is about. With her insightful depiction of growing up and parenting, written with delicate humour and skillful characterisation, Susan Perabo delivers a touching, elegant story in an original way. In this 'daring' ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review), 'sharp, and suspenseful' ( Publishers Weekly), 'utterly captivating and achingly beautiful' (Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia) novel, the critically acclaimed Susan Perabo asserts herself yet again as an engrossing storyteller and a master at cracking open the human psyche.The Fall of Lisa Bellow is a thoughtful and powerful novel about the spiraling effects of two random calamities on one ordinary family. The Fall of Lisa Bellow is a beautiful illustration of how one family, broken by tragedy, finds healing and makes sense of the nonsensical.

And as Claire grows more and more desperate to reach her, it becomes clear that Meredith is in a place where Claire can't go, searching for Lisa Bellow where no one else can.

Meredith's mother, Claire, can see that her daughter is irreparably changed-she is here, but not. But then the gunman orders Lisa Bellow to stand and come with him, leaving Meredith cowering in the wake of a life-altering near-tragedy.Īs the community stages vigils and search parties for Lisa Bellow, Meredith spends days shut away in her room, hiding in the dark landscape of her imagination. Lying there, Meredith is utterly convinced she will die. The breakout novel from the critically acclaimed author of the short story collections Who I Was Supposed to Be and Why They Run the Way They Do-when a middle school girl is abducted in broad daylight, a fellow student and witness to the crime copes with the tragedy in unforgettable ways.Ī masked man with a gun enters a sandwich shop in broad daylight, and Meredith Oliver finds herself ordered to the filthy floor, where she trembles face to face with her nemesis, Lisa Bellow-the most popular girl in her eighth grade class.

The Fall of Lisa Bellow by Susan Perabo