The Lovely Bones: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Lindsey cases George Harvey’s house for a week. She has been training with the junior high boys’ soccer team in hopes of qualifying for the all-male high school soccer team. The soccer field provides a view of Mr. Harvey’s house, and as Lindsey runs laps alongside Samuel and the rest of the team, she watches him. He notices her watching him, frustrated that after almost a year, the Salmons still “remain bent on crowding him.” It has happened before, in other towns—the family of a girl he has killed suspects him, even when no one else does.

On November 26th, Lindsey watches from the soccer field as Mr. Harvey leaves his house. She hangs back from the rest of the boys and sits at the tree line, planning on claiming to have gotten her period if she is called out. She slips away through the trees and heads for Mr. Harvey’s house, and calculates that she has about forty-five minutes to plunder through his home, knowing that he runs errands every afternoon. She punches in his basement window, using her sweatshirt as cushioning, and then drops herself through.

Lindsey looks around the basement, finding it neat and orderly, with nothing particularly odd sticking out. Susie wishes she could guide her sister to the crawlspace beneath it, where the bones of the dead animals lie, but she cannot. Still, Lindsey senses a dark energy in the basement, which sets her on edge. She leaves the basement and enters the first floor, surprised by how empty Harvey’s house is. As she navigates through, she is struck by how the layout is exactly the same as her own house, and memories of her and Susie’s childhood flood back to her.

As Lindsey moves through the house, Susie lists the names of the girls and women Harvey has murdered. Jackie Meyer, Delaware, 1967: thirteen years old. Flora Hernandez, Delaware, 1963: eight. Sophie Cichetti, Pennsylvania, 1960: forty-nine. Leidia Johnson, 1960: six years old, his youngest victim. Many more victims flood Susie’s senses, but she knows she must focus on Lindsey, and so she does.

Lindsey heads upstairs and into George Harvey’s room. She sees a sketchbook on the bedside table, and hears the sound of a car pulling up the driveway, braking, and the driver’s-side door opening and slamming shut. Lindsey flips through the pages of the notebook, finding a drawing of the structure in the cornfield in which Susie was murdered. She rips out the page. Downstairs, the oblivious Mr. Harvey is making a sandwich when he hears a board creak.

Upstairs, Lindsey opens Harvey’s bedroom window and goes through it. Mr. Harvey arrives upstairs just as Lindsey jumps—she lands on the ground, winded but unhurt. As Mr. Harvey reaches the window, he sees Lindsey Salmon running away, and her number—5—on the back of her soccer shirt.

When Lindsey walks in the front door of her own home Jack, Abigail, Grandma Lynn, and Samuel are sitting together, worried sick that she has come home late. Lindsey breathlessly tells Jack that she has broken into Mr. Harvey’s house. She hands him the drawing, and as Jack studies it, Abigail, frustrated by her husband and daughter’s obsessions with Harvey and with Susie’s murder, announces that she is going to pick up Buckley. She leaves, and Lindsey grabs Samuel’s hand. She tells her father worriedly that she thinks Mr. Harvey might have seen her.

As Susie, up in heaven, walks away from the gazebo, she considers how grateful she is that no harm came to Lindsey that day. Lindsey’s death would mean her loss on Earth for the rest of their family—but would also mean the loss of Susie’s ability to vicariously live through her sister’s experiences. Franny stops Susie and hands her a map—she tells her to go there when she is feeling stronger.

Two days later, Susie follows the map—it leads her to an olive tree at the edge of a wheat field. A girl comes through the stalks and greets Susie, asking if she knows Franny. Susie tells the little girl that Franny gave her the map to this place. The little girl tells Susie that she must be “ready.” She introduces herself as Flora Hernandez. Susie begins to cry, sad but comforted to know another of Mr. Harvey’s victims at last. Flora tells Susie that “the others” will be arriving soon, and sure enough, girls and women begin to stream through the field toward the olive tree. Susie finds strength and comfort in the arms and stories of her fellow victims.