St. Michael's Scales

First-time author Neil Connelly's deft and insightful novel about 15-year-old Keegan Flannery's search for life, described by one reader as a male version of Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak"

Keegan Flannery was born a twin though his brother Michael did not survive birth. Now, two weeks before Keegan's sixteenth birthday, he has a dream about his own death. Understanding that Michael was supposed to have lived, and it was he who was meant to have died, Keegan sets out to right all the wrongs by planning his own suicide.

But in the final weeks before his 16th birthday and his last day on earth, life intercedes in the plan: Keegan joins the wrestling team and a dialogue between him and his father begins. And it may just be enough to change Keegan's ideas about confession, penance, and the gift of being alive.