Every Secret Thing by Ann Tatlock

Have you ever felt invisible in your life? that if you died today no one would care? This book touched my heartstrings in so many ways. This story of a lonely English teacher who is unsure about connecting with the world, and the confused girl who enters her life could have been sappy, but it isn't. Instead, it reminds us that we were put here to help one another, and even if we think what we do (or don't do) doesn't matter, we are wrong.

The book is at times lyrical, and is truly written for those who love literature. Here's a taste: "When I was a child, a Bible passage I heard in Sunday school always made me think of Delaware. It was the story in the Gospel of John where Phillip goes and finds Nathaniel to tell him they've found the Messiah, the one Moses and the prophets wrote about. This should be good news for a couple of Jewish fellows, right? But oddly enough, the man is Jesus of Nazareth, that haven for the Roman army, persecutors of the Jews. And so Nathaniel cries out, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Those words stuck with me until my impish mind tweaked the question, turning it around to become Can anything at all come out of Delaware?"