The Saver

Seventeen-year-old Fern has not had an easy life. She's not pretty or attractive; she and her mother are not well off, and she isn't that interested in or good at school. Then Fern's mother dies and she has to figure out how to manage all on her own. Told through the letters Fern writes to her extra-terrestrial friend Xanoth, Fern's story is by turns realistic, haunting, funny, sad and completely believable. Anyone who has ever written another person off as "marginal" or "unimportant" should read this book. It is great to see Fern's progression from mere survival to friendship to... who knows? I hope Ravel features her as a side character in a future novel - with that brains and determination, it would be fascinating to see the direction her life might take.