Where to begin. If you'd told me that I would be up til the wee hours of the night reading a book about a 13 yr old Parisian girl who befriends an 18 yr old homeless girl, I'd've snorted with laughter. Right in your face.

But this book just pulls you in! Lou is 13 and has known her share of loss and sorrow and carries a burden much too large for her tiny frame. She has a mother who is practically catatonic with depression and a father who spends his waking hours trying to pretend that this is normal. Lou is also bright. VERY bright. She's been skipped ahead 2 years and has an IQ of 160. She also has OCD, creating "experiments" to occupy her time so she does not have to feel her pain and grief.

One day she meets a homeless girl, No, at a train station in Paris. Lou decides to do her school project on homelessness and begins meeting No regularly to interview her for her project.

From the beginning it's painfully clear that Lou wants to save No. And that No probably can't be saved. This book was a huge hit in France, and in typical French style it does not indulge in cheap sentimentality. There is no Life Changing Moment, no Afterschool Special-esque resolution. You love Lou and you even love No. You want things to be different, for both of them. You want to shake your fist at a society that learns to ignore the vulnerable and the lonely. You want to shake Lou's mother out of her depression and pull the blinders from her father's eyes.

The writing, the voice of this book, is incredible. Lou narrates with such awareness. It is so powerful. I have a feeling that this book will be on many Required Reading lists in France in the future.