Hey, guys! I’m trying to find the name of a book for my husband. He’s been searching for it for a really long time. He remembers it as a young adult novel.
So, from what I understand, it’s about a creature (possibly child shaped and most likely male) who lives alone in the wild and scorns humans for their emotional attachments. The creature can see everyone’s emotional attachments as tendrils of light coming out of them. At some point, this creature gets taken in by an old woman and begins to develop his own attachments to certain people and it distresses him.
Possibly “Doppelganger” by David Stahler Jr. Here’s a description from the web:
Doppelgangers are monsters, hardwired for murder. They are not supposed to have doubts, but this one does. He wishes he could be different. More human, maybe. But even that can’t stop him from killing people so he can take their places and live their lives. He has to do it; it’s who he is.
But when the doppelganger murders a small-town teenager, assumes his shape, and takes over his life, he’s shocked by the world he steps into. Engulfed in a whirlwind of peer pressure, messy family dynamics, and a provocative relationship with a beautiful girl, he quickly learns that there’s more than one way to be human, and many ways to be a monster.
Told in the tortured voice of a most extraordinary teen, this contemporary gothic romance brews a captivating combination of violence, desire, and atonement. Here is the story of a monster yearning for a human life.
Almost certainly ‘Cold Tom’ by Sally Prue (2002). Lovely book.
I agree! But the edition I read, just a couple of weeks ago, was titled “Call on the Stars.”