The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt takes us deep into the life of a boy who suddenly, tragically, loses his mother in an art museum bombing. It's a decisive moment in Theo's life. He is almost alone in the world, with no one who cares for him to assist him. Theo falls and falls and falls, and those who gradually appear in his life—his father, friends—are little help to him.

It's a story of loss and the descent into desperation, much of it grim and dark and horrifying. But it is also, in an odd way, redemptive, with good from bad, which may be the most hopeful of all.