An Unlikely Visitor

by Joanna Cannon

‘A profound and nuanced story about the connections we forge and those seemingly little moments in our lives that actually turn out to be the huge ones. So beautiful, so moving, never overstated, so very human. Joanna Cannon is a phenomenal writer, I am obsessed' ELIZABETH DAY

Margaret thinks her time is up…

Things have been hard since her husband Derek died, and they never really got over the disappearance of their daughter, Jeanie, all those years ago.

Despite everything, they built a lovely life together… it’s just starting to feel impossible for Margaret on her own.

But maybe her time is now?

Then one day, Margaret returns home to an unlikely visi­tor, and together they set out to discover what really hap­pened to Jeanie.

Perhaps if you knock on enough doors, you might find another end to your story…

'Brimming with Jo's trademark compassion, insight and wry humour, An Unlikely Visitor is both a meditation on a grief, a mystery of a missing child and a powerful exploration of the human condition. Jo writes so beautifully about human frailties and her kindness illuminates every sentence. A treat of a novel' HANNAH BECKERMAN

'A novel that appears to be telling Margaret and Derek’s poignant story becomes, in Joanna Cannon’s gifted hands, a profound reflection on the human condition, and therein lie the joy and the magic… We are left marvelling at how extraordinary ordinary people can be, and what a wonder it is to live and love at all' JOANNA GLEN

Praise for Joanna

‘Emotional, sweet, funny, hauntingly sad and poignant’ SARA COX

‘Lovely, lovely, lovely… Sue Townsend meets Kate Atkinson meets Nina Stibbe’ MARIAN KEYES

‘An utter delight’ SARAH WINMAN

‘A joy and a triumph’ RACHEL JOYCE

‘Charming, wise and profoundly human’ ERIN KELLY

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery, Contemporary, Grief, Death, Crime

324 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 4, 2026

About the author

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Joanna Cannon is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling debut novel The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, which has sold over 250,000 copies in the UK alone and has been published in 15 countries. The novel was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, shortlisted for The Bookseller Industry Awards 2017 and won the 2016 BAMB Reader Award. Joanna has been interviewed in The Guardian, The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Times, and Good Housekeeping magazine, and her writing has appeared in the Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail, and the Guardian, amongst others. She has appeared on BBC Breakfast, BBC News Channel’s Meet the Author, interviewed on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5, and is a regular at literary festivals across the country including Edinburgh and Cheltenham. Joanna left school at fifteen with one O-level and worked her way through many different jobs – barmaid, kennel maid, pizza delivery expert – before returning to school in her thirties and qualifying as a doctor. Her work as a psychiatrist and interest in people on the fringes of society continue to inspire her writing, and Joanna currently volunteers for Arts for Health, an organisation bringing creative arts to NHS staff and patients. Joanna Cannon’s second novel Three Things About Elsie is published in January 2018 and explores memory, friendship and old age. She lives in the Peak District with her family and her dog.

Reviews

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Margaret's husband, Derek, dies, she becomes all alone in the world, because Margaret and Derek's daughter, Jeanie, disappeared when she was 11 years old and neither of them saw her ever again. For several months, she struggles to adjust but one day an unlikely visitor appears and helps her to find a new path to discover what happened to her daughter.

Joanna Cannon is absolutely exceptional at writing character and this book is chock full of them! She dissects what it is to be human, what makes us unique and individual, and fills all of her characters with all those little nuances that make each of us who we are.

Now, I will say this book is sad and it may break your heart (I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a tear in my eye at times). However, it is beautifully written, packed full of emotion and will hopefully make you realise that, despite all our flaws, ultimately the world is full of kindness.

Bravo again to Joanna for another wonderful book - she never fails! All the stars!

Thank you to Joanna and Borough Press for sending me a proof.

[Lydia Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goats and Sheep & Three things about Elsie are two of my favourite reads ever so I was excited to receive Joanna Canon’s latest book on Net Galley. I love her writing and the first section of this one - when Margaret loses her husband, Derek- is profoundly sad & poignant & very much resonated with the character’s grief. When her ‘unlikely visitor’ arrives and together they investigate the reasons behind Margaret & Derek’s daughter, Jeanie’s disappearance forty years before, the story does become slightly surreal and dreamlike and I have to say it lost me a bit! Still a lovely read but a bit too fantastical for me.

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you have loved all an author’s earlier novels, it can sometimes make you a bit nervous about reading a new one. What if you just don’t like it as much? Well, I’m happy to say that I needn't have worried about An Unlikely Visitor: I was in safe hands with Joanna Cannon.

Now this is one of these books that you really can’t say too much about because you don’t want to spoil it for other readers. You will see from the blurb that the book is mainly about an elderly lady called Margaret. She lost her husband Derek and, as you would imagine, is finding life rather hard. They had experienced a tragic loss in their lives when their only child Jeanie vanished without trace many years ago. Somehow they had got through this time and managed to rebuild their lives. Just when Margaret is at her lowest ebb, she receives a most unexpected (and yes, unlikely) visitor and they resolve one last time to try to find out what happened to Jeanie.

The story unfolds over two different time frames. In the past, we follow Margaret and Derek through their darkest times from the day Jeanie disappears and the subsequent weeks and months as the police investigate her disappearance. My heart went out to both of them as you could sense their desperation as time went on with no sign of Jeanie. I could completely understand some of the things which Margaret did in her efforts to uncover the truth. Any mother in her situation would probably do the same.

In the present day, Margaret and her visitor uncover more clues as to what may have happened to Jeanie and grow closer to the truth. The grief that Margaret feels over the loss of her husband and, of course, the unexplained loss of her daughter was incredibly moving to read about. I have to say that Derek was a wonderful character. He was so supportive of Margaret and so loving despite his own devastation. I had a real lump in my throat at times reading about their love for each other: “when you love someone, you never leave them. Heaven, or whatever you call it, is right here, with the people you love the most.”

Joanna Cannon is so good at writing compelling stories. She draws you in with wonderful characters and intriguing mysteries that you just want to solve along with the characters. As Margaret delved deeper into the past and went out of her comfort zone to talk to her neighbours and other people from her past, it didn’t just help her but made a difference in many of their lives too.

I adored An Unlikely Visitor and I think it may be my favourite Joanna Cannon novel yet. It’s such an emotionally charged read yet is full of humour, warmth and hope. Just wonderful!

[Phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got to the last page and cried in public

[Natalie M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comforting cosy mystery.

An unexplained child loss set against aging, grief, loss, friendship and the unimaginable pan of not knowing. The characters are wonderful and the story tragic, but the magic is in the unfolding.

A new author to me, now on my TBR list.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of advanced copy received from Netgalley

Margaret has suffered unimaginable loss between her husband Derek and daughter Jeanie. She promises Derek that she will continue to keep chugging through life but how can she when there is nothing left to live for?

Joanna did an amazing job of delving into grief by carefully peeling away layer by layer of humankind through the development of Maraget "maggie" and Derek. Maraget and Derek's relationship is the fantasy that everyone dreams of to find in a partner. They balance each other out impecably but it never felt like a "too good to be true." Joanna balanced the messiness of coping, anger, grief, love on such a delicate scale it made me want to keep on coming back from more. Although the story situates itself in sadness, I found myself emotionally invested in Margaret and Derek's journey to find the answers they have been searching for these past decades. There was a sense of heaviness without it weighing down the story. A sense of joy without it overshadowing the tragedy that had unfolded.

I am excited to keep reading other books Joanna has published thus far and those that have yet to be published as well!

[Milly Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I see a new book from Joanna Cannon, I have to pick it up. This one I listened to on Audible and I laughed and I had tears in my eyes. This is a sad story, but it is told with such lightness of touch, with some humour and such compassion. Joanna Cannon is such a wonderful writer of character, she sees every aspect of human nature and so many facets of her characters I could recognise in myself and in others. Margaret/Maggie has got stuck since her husband, Derek, died even though she promised him that she would keep going. The thing is this is her second major loss - her daughter, Jeannie, disappeared when she was 11 and for years and years, Margaret and Derek have missed her, have never had closure, have never known the truth. Did she run away? Did someone take her? Is she still alive? Then one day, Maggie returns home and finds a very unlikely visitor and together, they set out to see if they can finally find out the truth about Jeannie’s disappearance. Told in two timelines, we follow Maggie and Derek in the aftermath of Jeannie’s disappearance. The dark days when hope starts to fade. Maggie is written so clearly, I could see her. I could empathise with her and yes, I could see exactly why she acted as she did on some occasions. The frustration that she and Derek felt was tangible. The other characters, from the police to neighbours - each facet of their characters was crystal clear. And we meet some of these same characters again in the present day when Maggie and her visitor try to uncover the truth. Maggie’s grief is moving to read and Derek - his love and the support he gives - he’s just a great man. I loved this, the way that Joanna Cannon explores grief and how it manifests and how she shows the kindness that can still be found even when everything seems dark. A great read. Rounded up to 5*

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just adored this book - the story, the characters, the themes. It’s sad, yes, but it’s also full to the brim of heart and hope. It exudes all the warmth that I see from Joanna on social media, it absolutely a Joanna Cannon story and couldn’t be mistaken as being written by anyone else.

The book explores two ends of the bereavement experience; losing a child and losing a spouse after many years of marriage, and both are handled delicately and beautifully, showing both the uniqueness of each but acknowledging the similarities too.

Every single character, whether they have two or four legs, is a delight. Joanna understands people (and dogs) at a deep level and this means she can bring to life all the players in her books and make you connect emotionally with them. I think my favourite was Derek, closely followed by Majid. I also loved that there is a Lewis inspired furry character.

Now, the unlikely visitor. I didn’t for a second think it would be who it was but they are the perfect person to help Margaret unravel a decades-old mystery. This investigation added another layer of interest to the story and the journey was fantastically written, hiding the final reveal from this reader fully.

[cosylittlereadingcorner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three Things About Elsie (by the same author) is a book I still often think about. It was such a special and beautiful book and this latest novel by Joanna Cannon is an equally lovely read.

In this dual timeline novel, we follow Margaret in the present and also forty years earlier when her 11 year old daughter, Jeanie, disappears. We know from the chapters in the present that Jeanie was never found and of course this had a huge impact on Margaret and her husband, Derek’s, lives, especially as she was their only child. And now, in the present, following Derek’s death, Margaret is all alone and a little lost in life. That is until one day she comes home and finds an unexpected visitor in her lounge. No longer alone, Margaret finds a new purpose in life and a path that might just help her find the answers she has always been searching for.

A beautiful, genuinely emotive book with characters you will immediately warm to. It should be heartbreaking and sad and yet what shone through more than anything was love and hope. If you are looking for a read that will touch your heart and somehow leave it better than it found it, then I urge you to pick this one up.

[Anisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never been so grateful to randomly stumble across a book. *An Unlikely Visitor* is beautifully written, deeply heartfelt, comforting without feeling sentimental, and somehow manages to be a mystery, a subtle thriller, and a thoughtful exploration of what it means to be human, all at once.

At its core, the story follows Margaret, whose husband Derek falls gravely ill and eventually passes away. As Margaret begins to lose herself to grief, Derek returns. Not physically, but spiritually. Yes, he is a ghost, and no, she is not hallucinating. Together, they set out to solve the forty-year-old disappearance of their eleven-year-old daughter, a case that has remained unsolved for decades.

This is one of those rare books where I genuinely struggled to find fault with the writing. The prose feels effortless without ever being plain. The narrative flows beautifully, the author's voice is distinctive, and the internal monologues feel so intimate that you cannot help but become invested. Not once did my attention wander.

Along the way, you meet a cast of characters who each leave their own impression. Some are impossible not to care about, while others serve as uncomfortable reminders of the worst parts of human nature. The novel explores the damage people inflict on one another, but also the damage they inflict on themselves. It examines guilt, denial, shame, and the lengths people will go to protect their own image, even when the cost is someone else's life. It is incredibly perceptive about the way pain spreads from one person to another, often across generations.

Strangely, although this is a story rooted in death and loss, it did not leave me feeling hopeless. It wasn't emotional enough to make me cry, but it stirred something I have never quite experienced in a book before. It made death feel less frightening and, in a strange way, almost comforting. I know that probably sounds odd, but that is the closest I can come to describing it.

As someone who reads a lot of thrillers, I also appreciated that I never saw the ending coming. That is becoming increasingly rare for me. Then again, I do not think I spent much time trying to solve the mystery myself because I was so absorbed in the characters and everything they were carrying.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a story that offers hope without pretending life is easy, one that shifts your perspective without becoming preachy, or simply a book to pull you out of a reading slump. I also listened to part of the audiobook, and the narration was excellent, adding another layer of warmth to an already wonderful story.

This is one of those books that reminds you that people are rarely defined by a single moment, that grief and love can exist in the same breath, and that closure does not always arrive in the way we expect. I went into this knowing almost nothing about it, and I am so glad I did. It completely exceeded my expectations, and I have no doubt it will stay among my favourite reads of the year.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solidly enjoyable read - as expected from Joanna Cannon who does ordinary people so very well, but not as I would expect from certain features of the story which are generally a big turnoff for me. Certainly had this been by someone else and had I known in advance who the unlikely visitor was, I probably wouldn't have chosen to read it. Here I could go along with all that, and sometimes too it is nice to have a book that fulfils your wishes.

[Corrina Tidman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite reads of the year.

[Kirsten Mackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded to 5*

[Lynda Woodfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve loved all of Joanna Cannon’s books but I think this one is her best yet and my favourite! It is whimsical, poignant, sad and amusing and Margaret is such a great character; I am sorry to have to leave her and Derek behind. It is difficult to say more without quoting the “blurb” or giving away spoilers so please just read this book!

[Jo Rawlins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to on Audible. Easy listening and enjoyable.

Comforting story of grief and a mystery of a missing child.

Interesting cast of characters, well plotted and nicely written.

Didn't blow me away but equally it gently coated me to read/listen on.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about loss and grief and about love. Margaret is recently widowed and struggling to cope. Additionally, in the past she has had to deal with the disappearance of her daughter. Her unlikely visitor helps her to find confidence and together they solve the mystery of her daughter's disappearance.
Joanna Cannon writes a poignant and at times quite emotional story. Her observations on life and her characters are intelligent and insightful. The book started off so well but on the arrival of the unlikely visitor, I'm afraid the story lost something for me. It became rather surreal which didn't sit comfortably with the seriousness of the subject matter and the ending was rather cloying.
Sadly for me, this wasn't as good ass her previous books.
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest and unedited review.

[Helen_t_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary:
It's been 94 days since Margaret's husband Derek died. It's also been 40 years since their beloved daughter Jeanie disappeared on her paper round, and was never seen again.

Looking back on these 40 years, Margaret realises that she has measured her life in the absence of things, rather than the presence, and the loss of Derek has hit her hard. Life feels pointless since he died. He was the scaffolding that held everything in place.

Margaret had promised him she'd keep marching on and not give up, but life without him is too hard. She just isn't the same Margaret she was before he died. So she decides she's going to stop agreeing to do things, and wants to be left alone, in peace.

But then Margaret returns home to find an unlikely visi­tor waiting for her, and together they set out to discover what really hap­pened to Jeanie. As the cover quote says: 'Perhaps if you knock on enough doors, you might find another end to your story…'

My Thoughts:
Thank you, Borough Press, for sending me a GIFTED proof of Joanna Cannon's fourth novel which comes out in June, I loved it so, so much!

I've read and enjoyed everything that the very talented Joanna Cannon has written, and this, I think, is her best novel yet....though reviewing it is so tricky! Tricky in the sense that I absolutely don't want to give anything away, and tricky because I know whatever I write I will fail to do it the justice it deserves!

The story has at its heart two of life's unimaginable and devastating life events, the loss of a child and bereavement, which Joanna Cannon handles with the utmost sensitivity, tact and compassion.

It must be such difficult path to walk. Done badly, subject matter which is emotionally affecting like this could be either crass or too much to bear. But here it is done with a quiet and deft assurance. The reader never once feels overwhelmed by grief and sadness, or deterred from reading further, because Joanna Cannon writes with the lightest touch, and a profound humanity.

As aways in her books, difficult issues like love and loss, bereavement, grief and loneliness, are presented with total understanding and with her trademark mix of a bittersweet poignancy, which blends sadness, wry humour, gentle comedy and brilliant observation.

Having set her stall out at the start of the novel, painting a moving picture of a 74 year old woman who has lost so much, the novel then picks up its skirts, 70 pages, in and heads off on a voyage of discovery, with the arrival of an unlikely and decidedly unexpected visitor. A journey which looks back to the past to solve a mystery, and grants resolution, and closure in the present.

I absolutely loved the characters of Margaret and Derek, their development is superb. They're truly couple goals. Derek is dependable, devoted, and loves to laugh at his own jokes. And Margaret? As Derek says himself, she makes everything so much better and so much easier to bear. She's valuable and necessary. If she didn't exist someone would have to invent her.

This is such a special and beautifully written story, filled with insight, understanding, joy hope and a certain sense of what I can only describe as magic. It prompts the reader to think about the big emotional issues which it presents, as much as the key points in a lifetime: the losses endured, the choices made, the paths taken.

I promise you, unless you're made of stone, you'll laugh and you'll cry, but, by the end of the novel, you'll feel a sense of satisfaction, and rightness about the way things have unfolded. It left me feeling a tad teary and wistful, but also hopeful, uplifted and satisfied. So much so, that I want to read it again, and very soon.

I can't recommend this novel to you highly enough, and I think that if you enjoy the pathos, poignancy, dry observation and wry humour of the likes of writers such as Alan Bennett, Kate Atkinson and Rachel Joyce , you will absolutely love this one, and should definitely add it to your TBR.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In life’s most intense moments, when your emotions are fierce and overwhelming, all of your senses become fierce and overwhelming too. And so you remember the smells and the textures and the sounds of that moment. All the pockets of tiny details. As if God has turned up the brightness and the contrast and the volume on everything to make sure that you’ll never forget.”

An Unlikely Visitor is the fifth novel by award-winning, bestselling British author, Joanna Cannon. In the almost four decades since the mysterious disappearance of their daughter, Jeanie left a gaping hole in their lives, Margaret and Derek Ford have tried to fill that space with activities, committees and routines, even though “it often felt artificial. Constructed out of necessity, rather than joy. What we really wanted had been snatched away, and we’d become runners-up in our own lives.”

But now, at seventy-four, Margaret is three months a widow, still very much missing Derek. “Pain takes everything from you. Your reasoning, your logic, even your ability to see clearly.” Despite encouragement from neighbours, friends and acquaintances to re-enter life, she’s no longer convinced it’s worth the effort: “We only have a limited amount of energy, but most of it we fritter away on convincing other people how well we’re doing”

But then, an unlikely visitor, and the impetus to discover what really happened to Jeanie.

Alternating narratives describe the disappearance of Jeanie Ford and its aftermath, and the steps Margaret takes, forty years on, to try to learn the truth. Cannon gives Margaret, and some of those she encounters, truly insightful observations about many aspects of life.

Musings on memories, grief, admitting to be struggling, avoiding pity, sharing confidences, self-harm, the heartbreak of the unconscious last leave-taking, guilt, the fear that misery is contagious, bullying, expectations that profound loss can be replaced, acting strong: all will resonate with any who have experienced them.

There’s a cast of the sort of people we all encounter in our day-to-day lives: busybodies who revel in the sequelae of the gossip they share, the bad news they relish delivering; the manipulative; the jealous, whose self-hatred is often directed it back at someone else; the overworked and busy; the kind-hearted; the defensive; the misunderstood, the grieving. “There was so much pain in his eyes, he looked like a completely different person. Grief can do that. It can turn you into somebody else overnight.”

The dialogue with Margaret’s unlikely visitor is often blackly funny, while many of Margaret’s observations are clever: “’This is a controlled area. No bicycles. No ball games. No loitering.’ I wonder where the bicycles and the ball games go to do their loitering now.”

Cannon is one of a select group of authors who have a talent for writing the small moments of everyday lives incredibly well, and her descriptive prose is wonderful: “The oldest part of the town is made up of an army of Georgian houses with their rigid symmetry and sash windows. Rows of identical, middle-class lives staring out beyond the glossy black railings and pale pavements.” An Unlikely Visitor is moving, thought-provoking, and quite brilliant.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK.

[Books By Your Bedside · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and The Borough Press for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I love Joanna's books and this may be her best one yet. This is my fifth of her books (fiction and non-fiction) and they just get better with each one. She's become a go-to author and I just know I'll love whatever she writes next.

Her description of grief is so beautiful. Grief is hard to write about, even for someone who has experienced a lot of it, and she's hit the nail on the head. She's not overdone it or sensationalised it for entertainment purposes, and she hasn't hidden from the really dark parts. Not to sound like Goldilocks but it was just right I also loved how she showed the quieter parts of grief such as anger. I know that not long after my dad died, if I couldn't et the cling film out, or if I dropped the foil and it rolled across the floor, I would get so angry at him - like I would never have done it if he had been there. It's a side of grief that many people forget about.

Margaret is a wonderful protagonist. From the first page, this is her story and I instantly fell in love with her. Joanna has made every character feel very human, which I know sounds weird because of course they are human. But characters can feel very...well, like they're characters and you're very aware they're made up people in a book. But everyone in this book feels so real and familiar that you get even more invested in it.

It took a turn I wasn't expecting and actually in hindsight, it's the best turn it could have done. It worked so well, like any other route to tell the story wouldn't have been as perfect as this. (That's my clumsy way of explaining something without spoiling it).

It's got a lot more thrillery, tense bits than I was expecting and it wasn't out of place. I didn't expect it but it really worked in context. And the "Unlikely Visitor" was as far away from who I expected as possible but I won't say more for fear of spoilers.

It's split into two timelines, the now, when Margaret is a woman in her seventies, and the then when she'd just lost her daughter. I love dual timelines so that was really interesting to read.

Did I cry? Of course I did. I cry at everything. But this wasn't really a sad cry, more a cry of hope and happiness (it'll make sense when you read it, I think).

It might be a book about loss and grief and fear, and yes parts of it are sad. But she's managed to weave in such a sense of hope and love and warmth about it, so it never feels too overwhelmingly morbid. A perfect book.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Unlikely Visitor, by Joanne Cannon is an outstanding read, a story that is as profound as it is nuanced—a “so very human” exploration of how the end of one’s story might actually be a hidden beginning.

Margaret is a character who immediately breaks your heart and then slowly starts to mend it. Following the death of her beloved husband, Derek, she feels as though her “time is up.” The house is too quiet, and the air is heavy with the double grief of losing a partner and the decades-old mystery of her daughter Jeanie’s disappearance.

The story is beautifully written and illustrates the “lovely life” Margaret and Derek built together, making the current impossibility of her solitary existence feel incredibly grounded and real. It is a “sombre mood,” yes, but it’s written with such compassion that you never feel overwhelmed by the sadness.

Everything changes when Margaret returns home to find an unlikely visitor. This visitor acts as the catalyst for a journey Margaret never thought she would take. Together, they begin to knock on the doors of the past to uncover the truth about Jeanie.

What makes this book truly special is how it handles the “whimsical twist.” It’s never overstated or jarring; instead, it lightens the atmosphere and provides a sense of hope that feels earned. It’s a reminder that if you are brave enough to keep looking, you might just find a different ending to your story.

This is a “beautifully written story of grief, love, and compassion.” It’s a book that invites you to slow down and appreciate the tiny intersections of life that turn out to be the huge ones. It’s rare to find a story that deals with such heavy themes while remaining so uplifting, but Joanne Cannon has achieved exactly that.

“Margaret thought her time was up, but she discovered that life isn’t a straight line, it’s a series of doors, and sometimes you just need the right visitor to help you knock.”

This book will leave you feeling both tearful and inspired, emotional storytelling that reminds us that no matter how late the hour, there is always room for a little more love and a lot more truth. Fabulous read.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Jane Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read all of Joanna Cannon’s novels and loved every one of them. She writes about real people with real emotions, and she does it with such tenderness and compassion. There’s always a darker thread running through her stories too, sometimes in tone, sometimes in humour, which means you can be close to tears one moment and laughing the next. That mix is exactly why her books stay with me.
Forty years ago, Margaret and Derek’s daughter, Jeanie, disappeared. Despite the police’s best efforts, she was never found, and Margaret has carried that loss every day since. Three months ago, she lost Derek too, after a sudden illness. Now 75 and alone, Margaret is adrift. The busy, purposeful life she and Derek built to survive their grief only worked because they had each other. Without him, everything has fallen quiet.
Then one day, Margaret receives an unexpected visitor, and something in her shifts. She decides she can’t keep living with unanswered questions. This time, she wants to know what really happened to her daughter.
As the visitor’s presence stirs up old memories and long buried fears, the story about love and loss slowly turns into a kind of murder mystery. The plot is tightly woven, with chapters moving between the past (Jeanie) and the present (Derek), each one revealing just enough to keep you leaning forward. Many of them end at moments that make it impossible not to read on.
I adored Margaret. She’s written with such clarity and honesty that I felt as though I knew her. I cried when she cried, felt her anger when she was wronged, and understood her stubbornness even when it made things harder. She isn’t perfect, but she’s human, and Cannon treats her with real care.
There’s a deep tenderness running through the book. The characters are flawed, but they’re drawn with such warmth that you can’t help rooting for them. I was moved by the small gestures, the hesitant conversations, and the slow, surprising connection between two people who never expected to find anything in each other. The story is hopeful without ever tipping into sentimentality, and the ending leaves you with a quiet, steady feeling that lingers long after you close the book.
I’m so glad I read this book.

[Lady Fancifull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet (a little too much so), warm, whimsical and humorous

Cannon always has these tender qualities, as stated above, in her writing, she brings the quirky and imaginative with a lot of heart, into her characters. There are some similarities with the energy and exuberance of early Kate Atkinson, though the incisive bite of Atkinson is missing. So, at times, I can find that Cannon has got a little too soft and sweet and consciously feelgood for my tastes. So it is here.

Central character Margaret, is an elderly widow, deep in the place of despair and loss after the recent death of her beloved husband Derek. Both Margaret and Derek were no strangers to forever grief and loss, as decades earlier their only daughter, Jeanie, a quiet, thoughtful and kind young girl, had vanished without trace. This was an unsolved mystery, despite the usual media furore as the local community and police search and investigation yielded no solution, and the search for who might have taken and harmed her, went national via press and television. Neither Derek nor Margaret had ever got over this terrible event (who would?) but they had stayed together, lovingly, weathering the inevitable strains such a tragedy brings. One such being the inability to move away from the village where they had been living, and where Jeanie had been born, as somewhere, particularly for Margaret, was the feeling that somehow, somewhere, despite the passage of time, Jeanie might return. Maybe she had been kidnapped but had not been murdered?

The story of past and present is told, primarily through Margaret, but Derek’s thoughts, feelings and actions are also given space.

Primarily, Cannon’s world is of understanding, and of human beings trying to get by, in all their sometimes clumsy and inadequate ways. She is dealing with the inevitable loss which we all must face, - even if we experience no shocking or unnatural cutting short of the lives of those we care about. I think probably most readers will, early on, get some sense of where the story might be heading, and probably, the unsolved mystery.

Cannon takes a dark subject and views it through a definite glass at least half full lens

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanna Cannon has a real talent for taking a seemingly simple premise and uncovering the emotional layers beneath it. The Unlikely Visitor is a light, easy read in terms of pace and tone, yet it carries a quiet emotional resonance that stays with you.

At the centre is Margaret, recently widowed after the death of her husband Derek. His loss stirs up a much older grief she has never been able to lay to rest: the disappearance of her young daughter, Jeanie. Joanna Cannon handles this storyline with sensitivity. The chapters touching on Jeanie’s disappearance are the hardest to read because they capture the raw, bewildering pain of a mother living with unanswered questions. The intrusion of the media, that awful press conference, the way the community reacts, and the lingering suspicion around the local misfit all feel painfully believable.

What gives the novel its emotional lift is the way Margaret revisits these events decades later. She’s not chasing drama; she’s seeking understanding. And the author allows her that space with compassion and humour. Despite the grief threaded through the story, the book remains ultimately uplifting — a reminder that healing can arrive long after the world has stopped paying attention.

It’s also refreshing to see older characters placed firmly in the spotlight. Cannon writes them with nuance, wit, and agency, and readers who loved The Trouble with Goats and Sheep will recognise her signature blend of tenderness, community insight, and quiet mystery.

I did have one very minor criticism: a couple of modern phrases momentarily pulled me out of the story, for example, a line from history about red flags; such a tiny thing, but it jarred slightly against the otherwise immersive tone.

Overall, The Unlikely Visitor is a thoughtful, comforting novel, I readily forgave the supernatural vehicle in this mystery with heart, a story about loss and resilience, and a welcome reminder that older women’s lives make for rich, compelling fiction.

[Christy fictional_traits · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘…when you love someone, truly love someone, they never really leave. No one is ever lost to you, they’re just in a different place’.

When Margaret’s husband, Derek, passes away, the loss reopens wounds suffered four decades earlier when their daughter, Jeanie, disappeared. An exhausting loneliness settles over her life, leaving her increasingly isolated and uncertain how to move forward. Although she promised Derek she would continue living the life they had built together, even the smallest routines now feel overwhelming. ‘…I began to measure my life in the absence of things, rather than the presence’.

Then one morning, a visitor appears - not only an unlikely visitor, but perhaps an impossible one - and in doing so, offers Margaret an unexpected path through both her present grief and the unresolved sorrow of her past.

‘An Unlikely Visitor’ is both a quiet character study and the gradual unravelling of a decades-old missing person cold case. At its heart though, this is a story about grief and the many ways it shapes, isolates and quietly transforms people over time.

Laden with sadness, the novel explores death, loss and loneliness with remarkable tenderness and emotional intelligence. Joanna Cannon captures the small, deeply human moments that often sit beneath grief: the routines people cling to, the memories they revisit, and the silences that grow louder for those unable to articulate their pain.

What could have felt unbearably heavy instead becomes deeply cathartic. As the mystery slowly unfolds, so too does a nuanced meditation on mourning, memory and the importance of continuing to live fully despite loss. The novel offers a compassionate and quietly hopeful perspective on love and human connection, suggesting that grief is not something we overcome, but something we learn to carry differently over time.

Thoughtful, moving and deeply humane, this is a novel best read when you are in a reflective mood and willing to sit with both sorrow and hope.

‘You never lost me in the first place. I’ve been here all along’.

[Aga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | The Borough Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

What really attracted me to this story was the exploration of loss and grief.

Margaret is 74 years old and grieving the loss of her beloved husband, Derek. When she receives a visit from a very unlikely visitor, she becomes determined to finally discover what happened to her eleven-year-old daughter, Jeanie, who disappeared one day while doing her paper round.

The story is told across multiple timelines, and while I usually enjoy that structure, here it was sometimes quite tricky to follow. What I did enjoy was Margaret’s emotional journey and her need to uncover the truth about Jeanie’s fate. The grief was handled with care, and there were moments that felt very tender and moving.

There is also an element of magical realism woven through the story, which I appreciated in parts.

What didn’t fully land for me was the portrayal of heaven and the afterlife. I understand this is the author’s interpretation, and I respect the creative choice, but personally it didn’t quite work for me. It pulled me out of the story at times, especially when the grief and mystery elements felt so grounded and emotionally strong.

I also found myself wishing we had been given a chapter from Jeanie’s perspective. I think that would have added another emotional layer to the story and made her disappearance hit even harder.

The ending was good, even if a little predictable, but it still worked for the story.

Overall, this was an interesting read with a moving premise, but for me it felt a little repetitive in places and would have benefited from tighter editing. A thoughtful story about grief, loss, motherhood, and the need for closure.

Overall, this was an interesting and thoughtful read with a moving premise, especially around grief and motherhood. However, the repetition, the slightly tricky timelines, and the portrayal of the afterlife meant it didn’t fully land for me.

For me, this is a 3.5 star read, rounded down to 3 stars.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story:
40 years ago, Margaret and Derek’s 11-year-old daughter Jeanie went missing, never to be found. Now Derek has passed away, and Margaret is finding it increasingly hard to find any enthusiasm for life.

But when an unlikely visitor turns up in her front room, Margaret is set on a path to finally uncover the truth of her daughter’s disappearance. Sometimes the truth is there to be found… But you just need some distance to be able to see it.

My thoughts:
Author Joanna Cannon is well known for her quietly heart-wrenching books, and I was excited to read her latest novel “An Unlikely Visitor”. In it, we meet Margaret, who has just lost her husband Derek to cancer and is both furious and destroyed by it. From being a hub of the community, she has withdrawn to such an extent that it seems too far to come back from.

But one day she is confronted by a visitor who pushes her to get back into the world. And not just that – they want Margaret to find out what happened to her daughter Jeanie, who disappeared 40 years ago, and was never seen again.

This is a hard book to review without giving too much away, but as Margaret digs back into the past, she also finds herself connecting with the present and those around her; only to discover that many of the answers she has been seeking are there, now she has enough time and distance from them to see them clearly.

The absolute heartbreak of her loss, and her guilt at not being a good mother (she never forgives herself for not properly noticing what her daughter was wearing the day she vanished, meaning she can’t give the police a proper description), are painful to read, and perfectly capture the devastation this event has on Margaret and Derek’s lives. Though it contains many tragedies, small and large, this is ultimately an uplifting book about love and resilience, and the final line is absolute perfection. I loved this book and recommend it wholeheartedly to all. Just make sure you have your tissues at the ready!

[Ceecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s tough for Margaret these days since Derek died and the couple never get over the disappearance of their daughter Jeanie many years ago. Despite their profound loss, they do build a nice life together but these days she feels the walls are closing in as it’s just so hard. Then an unlikely visitor appears and perhaps for the first time in many, many years she can find some answers about what really happens to Jeanie.

Fellow book lovers will know exactly what I mean when I say this has been the most wonderful reading experience encompassing all the emotions. Ever since her debut novel ‘The Trouble with Goats and Sheep’, I have loved Joanna Cannon‘s books and I’m certain this will be another best seller. It’s a beautiful book which is beautifully written with genuine feeling, empathy, sensitivity and understanding of Margaret and her life. I can honestly say I truly love being in Margaret’s company for the hours it takes to read this. The author has quite simply taken an ordinary, everyday life and made it extraordinary in every possible way. It’s wonderfully written with some witty and apt turns of phrase, summing situations up to perfection. The characterisation is exemplary.

Clearly, the novel has grief at its core but it’s grief wrapped up in a mystery which evolves naturally through the writing. It’s also sprinkled with a lot of magic and some marvellously surreal moments which the author 100% makes me buy into. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, the loss of Jeanie and the living with the not knowing, the loss of lovely Derek but it’s also heartwarming and life affirming. I defy anyone not to have a tear in their eye at the end. It’s a truly poignant story written with compassion and huge imagination. Absolutely fabulous.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins, HarperFiction/The Borough Press for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.

[Kath · Rating 5 out of 5]

We start with our main character, Margaret, as she is still coming to terms with the death of her husband Derek. Things had been hard for them since the disappearance of their daughter Jeanie. Margaret is really struggling being on her own now and has basically become a recluse, shunning most attempts from her friends and neighbours to get her going again.
Until, one day she returns home to find that she has a visitor. One whose appearance is just the nudge she needs to both try and get on with her life, and also to attempt to finally work out what happened to her daughter when she disappeared from her paper round some 40 odd years ago...
I can't say anything else about this book for fear of spoiling it. It's best to go in blind if you can and then you will be able to discover all the delights this story has to offer as the author intends.
It's a happy-sad book, and you'll know exactly what I mean by that once you actually get going. In fact, it runs the whole gamut of emotions - I laughed, I wept, I ugly cried, but I also sighed with relief at times too. It's that sort of emotional read that I need once in a while to get away from all the crime books I usually devour!
The characters are all wonderful and easy to connect to / emote with. It's hard to say too much more about them, again worried about spoilers, but there are a few surprises along the way...
As well as the emotion and grief, and humour, there is also a mystery to be solved. That of what happened to Jeanie. The author does a really great job of balancing the whole, as well as delivering a wonderful ending.
To date, I have only read one other book by this author, Three Things About Elsie, and I enjoyed that as much as I did this. In an attempt to play catch-up I have now added her other two books to my TBR. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aware that Joanna Cannon has a huge following, I acknowledge that I’m late to the party. But I’m don’t think I’ll be staying very long.

I appreciate that Cannon depicts her characters and their surroundings carefully and that she engages with horrific circumstances very sensitively. I can see from others’ reviews of ‘An Unlikely Visitor’ how she touches readers’ hearts with her tale of Margaret, an elderly woman not coping very well with the death of her husband. And who can blame Margaret? Derek has been a stalwart and loving support throughout their marriage as they try to live without their only daughter, missing from the age of eleven and with no explanation as to what happened on the terrible day when Jeanie cycled off on her paper round and never came home.

I appreciate that the author plans to allow Margaret to come to some sort of an understanding about her daughter’s story. However, because everything is predicated on such a terrible incident, I found it difficult to accept the fanciful way in which this is done. In life, sadly, there are stories of children who disappear, never to be found. There is often no answer.

Nonetheless, whilst I found myself out of tune with the plot, I recognise that Cannon often highlights elements of human behaviour very effectively, such as when Margaret thinks back to her school days and remembers that, ‘…as strange as it sounds, bullying by exclusion, with its small acts of quiet cruelty, can be more painful and even more damaging that its counterpart.’ This is a well-written novel that the author’s fans will no doubt enjoy very much.

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollinsUK, HarperFiction for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

[Jo Bardgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unlikely visitor
By Joanna Cannon
Published by HarperCollins Publishers

Joanna Cannon gives us a beautifully written story of love, grief and patience. So many wonderful words, questions and moments of reflection that will resonate with anyone who has experienced a true love lost.

Margaret and Dericks daughter Jeanie never comes home from her paper round. That was over forty years ago now and the mystery has never been resolved. The pain and suffering has moulded their lives. Questions never answered. Closure never came. But their strength as a couple never faulted.

But life doesn’t stand still for everyone. People get on with their lives, they grow old, memories fade. But for Margaret and Derick their lives will never be the same again.

Now Margaret is widowed and has too much time to wonder, question and query about what was missed in the disappearance of her daughter all those years ago. Despite her determination to find out the truth, Margaret feels so alone, lost in her thoughts. Until one day, Margaret returns home to an unlikely visi­tor, her Derick, talking to her in her home. Questioning him and his presence, together they set out to discover what really hap­pened to Jeanie.

Although full of sadness, Margaret still keeps her strength and her dry humour will make you smile, punch the air with a “Yes” as she opens up her mind and her heart.
Never before have I read such pure love and compassion when your heart has been broken.
And this phrase “Perhaps if you knock on enough doors, you might find another end to your story…” made me think, brought a tear to my eye and made me reflect on my own grief. Painful as it is, life must go on for the living!

Joanne Bardgett - teacher of littlies, lover of Children’s literature.
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