SARAH WAGNER can tell her brother is there before she even sees him. There is the lingering odour of earth and rain, and then he appears, sitting at the foot of her bed, as if everything was perfectly normal. Except John is dead.

Sarah is grieving and scared. Desperately seeking help, she turns to her best friend, Donna, an angry girl on the fringe of society, and Michael, the dark and mysterious boy in her class, and is thrust on a journey into the mystical realm of the occult. But plagued by headaches and falling into a deepening chasm of drugs and alcohol, Sarah no longer knows what is real and what isn t. In a climax that is both shocking and satisfying, The Book of Living and Dying proves to be an astonishing YA novel.

Author Natale Ghent creates a gritty teen reality with both sensitivity and unflinching honesty a multi-layered and mature exploration of life and death, loss and salvation."