Sensitive fourteen-year-old Dexter Bestwick is at the park with his girlfriend Jamie when his father murders him for stealing something from his locked room. Still around after his death to witness the ensuing damages, he aches to protect his first, young love from being a victim. Yet he's afraid the eternal light will grow brighter and claim him, and that Jamie will soon suffer the same fate... Earthly Things is a beautiful and touching story full of high stakes and will appeal to fans of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.