THE LOVELY BONES, the acclaimed bestselling novel by Alice Sebold, tells the story of a girl who was murdered and who is narrating the story from Heaven.  It is a tale of someone torn between vengeance and trying to heal those left behind.

Now the movie based on the book hits theaters Jan 15th. It stars Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Amanda Michalka,   Stanley Tucci,  Michael Imperioli and Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, the narrator of the tale.  (Ronan was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role in ATONEMENT.)

The original book, THE LOVELY BONES, draws some of its inspiration from Sebold’s own life: brutally attacked and raped while in college in the 1980s, she was told by police that she had been “lucky” to survive as a previous victim had perished. (“Lucky” became the title of her first book, a memoir of the attack .)  Just a few months after she was attacked, she recognized her attacker still stalking the Syracuse University area and was able to testify against him, putting him in prison.  She managed to complete her degree (after taking a few months off ), then went into graduate work and spent the next 15 years or so waitressing, studying writing and trying to write her story.

Sebold originally tried turning her experiences into poetry, then novels, finally getting published in 1999 with LUCKY. THE LOVELY BONES was published in 2002, winning the Bram Stoker award for best first novel. (LUCKY was non-fiction.)

And now 8 years later, THE LOVELY BONES finally hits the big screen.

Check out the movie trailer: