The Ghost Clause

by Howard Norman

National Book Award Finalist Howard Norman delivers another “provocative . . . haunting”* novel, this time set in a Vermont village and featuring a missing child, a newly married private detective, and a highly relatable ghost

(*Janet Maslin, New York Times)

Simon Inescort is no longer bodily present in his marriage. It’s been several months since he keeled over the rail of a Nova Scotia–bound ferry, a massive heart attack to blame. Simon's widow, Lorca Pell, has sold their farmhouse to newlyweds Zachary and Muriel—after revealing that the deed contains a “ghost clause,” an actual legal clause, not unheard of in Vermont, allowing for reimbursement if a recently purchased home turns out to be haunted.

In fact, Simon finds himself still at home: “Every waking moment, I'm astonished I have any consciousness . . . What am I to call myself now, a revenant?” He spends time replaying his marriage in his own mind, as if in poignant reel-to-reel, while also engaging in occasionally intimate observation of the new homeowners. But soon the crisis of a missing child, a local eleven-year-old, threatens the tenuous domestic equilibrium, as the weight of the case falls to Zachary, a rookie private detective with the Green Mountain Agency.

The Ghost Clause is a heartrending, affirming portrait of two marriages—one in its afterlife, one new and erotically charged—and of the Vermont village life that sustains and remakes them.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Novels, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary, Romance

246 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 2019

About the author

Howard A. Norman (born 1949), is an American award-winning writer and educator. Most of his short stories and novels are set in Canada's Maritime Provinces. He has written several translations of Algonquin, Cree, Eskimo, and Inuit folklore. His books have been translated into 12 languages.

Reviews

[Paul Secor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not much of a fan of ghost stories, but The Ghost Clause had me hooked from the moment I took it off the library shelf. On the cover is a photograph of a large private library full of books that appear to be real, well read books and not something set up by an art director. In the foreground, there's a cat, who may be standing guard, lying on books piled on a table or desk. The cat doesn't appear to be overly friendly. There's a cat who plays a somewhat significant role in the novel and who is somewhat neurotic. There's a reason for that, and you can find out what that reason is if you read the book. Anyway, I'd love to spend a few hours or, better yet, a few days, perusing the books in that library, taking books off of the shelves and starting to read them. Assuming the cat would allow that to happen.

There is a ghost in this novel (obviously), but it's not really a ghost story. It's a story about people, primarily two couples, though there are many interesting supporting characters. This is only the third Howard Norman novel that I've read but, from the two I read recently, I have the sense that he writes great love stories; not romance stories, real love stories, with warts, bumps, ruts, and all.
If that weren't not enough, this is also a novel about books, and not one of the usual kinds, which are set in libraries or book stores. The characters in The Ghost Clause own books, read them, and talk about them. Books are a part of their lives. As an example, two of the characters are married in an official/unofficial ceremony (read the book to find out what that means) in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, "the village of books". The wedding ceremony is held in a garden in back of a book shop and afterward, the newlyweds each pick out a book as a wedding present to themselves. She's an artist and chooses a book on Caravaggio. He's a writer and chooses an expensive (too expensive for their budget but, what the hey, it's their wedding) signed first edition of an Edward Lear book.

There's more in the book than relationships and books. One of the characters has just begun to work for a private detective agency and he's trying to find a missing eleven year old girl whose family lives nearby and Mr. Norman masterfully shows us the psychological drama of that situation as it plays out within the family and the community.

But the main reasons I loved reading this novel were the relationships of people and the books and the interactions between both.

A few scattered comments: I had never heard of the term, mallalorking, before. According to the novel, it means acting out restlessness before a journey. The Urban dictionary attributes it to Newfoundland, but in the book it comes out of the mouth a woman in Wales.

Elsewhere in the book, a character mentions buying a new collection of May Swenson poems with a cockatoo on the cover. This supposedly takes place in 1975. I'm the farthest thing from an expert on May Swenson. In fact, I've never read one of her poems. But I was curious, looked on Goodreads, and found a collection, In Other Words, which was published in 1987 and which has a cockatoo on the cover. I'm wondering if there was an earlier collection with a cockatoo on the cover or if this was a slip up. Either way, it doesn't bother me. I just have a curiosity about things.

And a quote I liked: "The heart is seldom rational - the mind, sometimes."

If you like a real love story or a real book about books, I commend The Ghost Clause to your attention.

[Chrissie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I have liked how Howard Norman writes. He writes with the same flair in this book as he writes in his others. The story here involves a mystery. A supernatural element is thrown in too. Both I usually shy away from! The book may fit others, but it does not fit me. On closing the book, I asked myself what it gave me. I could come up with nothing.

In brief, here is what the story deals with. An eleven year-old girl is missing. The search for her is the mystery. Secondly, the book deals with two couples. The first couple has lived in a really great house in rural Vermont. The husband dies, before the start of the novel, and his wife sells it to a young couple. The dead husband returns to the house as a ghost. He contemplates his past relationship with his wife and the relationship existing between the new owners. There are many similarities between the two couples—fertility issues, the desire for children, art, poetry and Japanese literature. We are in the world of academics; the names of Japanese authors, poets and artists are thrown around. I, rather than being attracted by this, was put off. The names became a blur. The investigation to solve the crime became a blur of names too. Don't worry, all is made crystal clear by the end.

The ghost talks to us. He is as simply another person in the novel. In this respect the supernatural is not so weird. The family’s coon cat perceives his presence and the house alarm continually goes off. Amusing? Well, sort of. Readers may relate to the false alarms in the Vermont home to false alarms in their own homes. It is all a bit trite, if you ask me.

The ending? Corny!

The description of the house and of Vermont and of snowy landscapes and tall maples is what charms. The cat is called Epilog, which is amusing. Small things such as this might make the book work for YOU, but they were not enough for me.

The audiobook is narrated by Jim Meskimen. It’s fine. It’s good. I have little to say about it. Three stars for the audiobook narration, and two for the book.

The book is too light-weight for me. It gave me too little to think about.

********************
*The Bird Artist 4 stars
*I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place 3 stars
*What Is Left the Daughter 3 stars
*The Museum Guard 3 stars
*The Ghost Clause 2 stars
*In Fond Remembrance of Me: A Memoir of Myth and Uncommon Friendship in the Arctic

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A handful of characters who spend majorities of their lives in a Vermont farmhouse, only one is a ghost, but more of a nostalgia ghost that is only known by the cat. All literary or artistic characters but a bit meandering.

TW fertility/miscarriage

I had a review copy from the publisher through NetGalley. The book came out July 2, 2019.

[Lisa Leone-campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writer Simon Inescort died of a heart attack on a ferry, yet he still lives at his and his wife Lorca's home in Vermont. Simon, who is a ghost now, tells the reader stories about what he witnesses of the comings and goings of the new occupants of his home, Zachary and Muriel. He also reminisces about the love of his life Lorca.

Simon shows us Zachary, who is a private investigator trying to solve the case of a young child who has disappeared. Heartbroken and haunted, Zachary will not stop until he finds her. We see through Simon's eyes the day to day relationship between Muriel and Zachary, warts and all as they decide to try for a family.

He entices us with the love story between himself and Lorca, how they met and fell in love. How they too wanted to start a family in the same house Zachary and Muriel are now living. How just before he set off on his last boat ride, he and Lorca tried to resolve their own marital problems.

The particular irony in all this is that Simon is aware of a clause in the deed of the house called the "Ghost Clause" which allows the current owner to be reimbursed by the previous owner if it is found there is a ghost living in the house. This is something he would never want to do to Lorca.

But with the alarm constantly being set off and with particular books being placed face down in the library will Zachary and Muriel get suspicious? What would they do if they knew?

The Ghost Clause is a "haunting" look at two marriages whose problems sometimes parallel each others through heartbreaks and joys and happiness and love everlasting.

Thank you #NetGalley #HoughtonMifflinHarcourt #HowardNorman #TheGhostClause for the advanced copy.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been an admirer of Howard Norman's novels since his first one. Norman's books have the same motifs: grief and loss, nature, culture, fate and chance. They open with intrigue and feature smart, gifted main characters the reader cares about. I read his books with pen and paper handy because there are usually references to writers, musicians and visual artists I've never heard of, and through those references I've found some gems. Norman's plots are well paced, yet the writing has a lovely languid quality that makes them a pleasure to read.

But not here, not for me. "The Ghost Clause" disappointed me. For the first time I wasn't invested in the characters or their stories.

It mostly focuses on two married couples. There's Lorca, a visual artist, and Simon, a published novelist. They fell in love with an old farmhouse in East Calais, Vermont and lived there until Simon's sudden death at 48. Then Lorca moved out and into her studio, selling the house and property to Muriel, a professor and translator of Japanese poetry and Zachary, a private investigator. Simon's ghost is there too, as well as in the cabin where he wrote his novels. His presence isn't felt by people in the house and he spends most of his time filling notebooks with voyeuristic observations of Muriel and Zach. He also frequents its library.

Lorca and Simon are unable to have children and so far neither can Zach and Muriel. This looms large in both marriages. A local child who is autistic goes missing and Zach is assigned to investigate. This is the closest the book gets to plot; there really isn't one. The focus is on characters who are smarter and more talented than they are interesting.

"The Ghost Clause" takes place in East Calais, Vermont, a magnet for artists, where Howard Norman lives. Much of the time the book sinks from the weight of characters' esoteric conversations. A lot of the book consists of Japanese poems, literary quotes, talk of art and artists and art projects, so much so that eventually even the salads seemed pretentious.

But even in this flawed book, the writing is better than in many and there are some lovely passages and one great scene I won't forget. If you enjoy literary novels and you haven't read anything by Howard Norman, I recommend his other ones. My favorites are "Next Life Might Be Kinder," "What Is Left the Daughter" and "The Bird Artist."

[Maine Colonial · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free publisher's advance reviewing copy.

Yes, this is something of a ghost story, in that Simon Inescourt has died at 48 and yet finds himself back in the Vermont farmhouse he lived in with his artist wife, Lorca. He stays on at the farmhouse even after Lorca sells the property to a young couple. Muriel is an academic writing about a writer of Japanese erotic poetry, and her husband Zach is a private detective who has been recruited to move to Vermont and is challenged with the case of a missing 11-year-old girl.

Simon, a novelist, remembers his marriage to Lorca, including its heartbreaking times, and he observes Zach and Muriel’s marriage and fills notebooks with his observations. It’s apparent that Simon has a lot in common with Howard Norman, and of course novelists are voyeurs of a sort.

There are flashes of humor, knowing observations about life in Vermont (where Norman himself lives), and even a criminal investigation tale, but mostly this is a elegantly written, insightful and heartfelt look at two marriages.

[OLT · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, I think, a good book that deserves maybe one more star than I gave it. The problem is me. I wasn't quite in the mood to read this. Into mysteries at the moment, for some reason I thought there would be more focus on the missing 11-year-old child that private detective Zachary, the husband of one of the two couples of this book, was assigned to find.

Mostly what we get is a slightly disjointed story of two marriages: one that of a young, newly-wed couple and one a retrospective of the marriage of a middle-aged couple, the husband Simon having recently died, leaving his wife Lorca a grieving widow who sells their lovely old Vermont home to Muriel and Zachary, the younger couple. This old house, loved by both couples, is, of course, an important component of the story.

Simon is our ghost. He has stayed behind at his old home, spending his time observing the new couple and reminiscing about his life with Lorca, the good times and the bad. He reads books in their library, leaving books open on the floor and even accidentally setting off the motion sensor there frequently and inexplicably to Muriel and Zach. He writes down observations in notebooks so that "Muriel and Zachary may discover them someday and know something of who they were or are, at least by my lights." A somewhat creepy and presumptuous idea, I venture to say, but he seems to have good, albeit invasive, intentions.

Lorca is an artist. Simon was a writer and academic. Zachary is a private detective with the Green Mountain agency, and Muriel is a recently-minted Ph.D. with expertise in Japanese literature. Muriel is working on publishing a book of translations of erotic Japanese poetry. Perhaps important to the story, if you wish for a bit of symbolism as you read, is the fact that the erotic component of each poem has been included in a parenthetical insertion.

What we have here in THE GHOST CLAUSE is a book searching for a main focus, IMO. I couldn't find it, but then I'm not as much of a thinker and academic as Simon or Muriel and author Norman, so much of their introspection and conversations just seemed pretentious and annoying to me at times. I was, nonetheless, touched by the poignancy and sadness of a marriage too soon ended by death. Simon's remembrances of times past were sad and touching at times, amusing at others.

The missing-child investigation never quite took off for me but I assume that was intentional. The details weren't that important to the story. It was the missing and found detail that's important. Simon and Lorca's marriage was troubled by their inability to have children. Muriel and Zach, just starting their marriage, are hopeful they will be parents. In a way, by the end of the story, Lorca may have found something that had been missing in her marriage.

The story is full of little details that seem isolated unto themselves, but many get tied up into the main theme by the end of the book. Some, however, are still floating around alone for me, rather like ghosts. This is, perhaps, a failing in me, the reader, with the author's intentions above my pay grade.

The ending is lovely and fitting and touching. Well, just listen to me. I may be talking myself into adding on that extra star. I'll have to think about it.

[switterbug (Betsey) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was head over heels about the characters and story of Norman’s MY DARLING DETECTIVE, so I was drawn to this as well. A very different story, of course, and quite noir-ish. In this, he tackles several themes—my favorite being how memories identify us, color us in, or leave us more blank than we want to be. Memories and missing. But Norman also grapples with grief, fertility, marriage, loss, and the whole poetry of life (and there is poetry!).

During the opening pages, we learn that Simon, an underrated writer who died a few years ago, still inhabits the farmhouse in East Calais, Vermont (where Howard Norman lives), where he lived with his wife, Lorca, an artist who creates Emily Dickinson-inspired paintings. Still mourning Simon’s loss and some unresolved feelings, she sells to a couple, Muriel and Zachary. But Simon, the “stenographer” of death, still inhabits the house, mainly the library, and often inadvertently sets off the security alarm, signaling "Motion in Library."

The title refers to an alleged clause in Vermont concerning the sale of homes. If the house is haunted, you must disclose that to potential buyers. There’s a missing child, and one of the buyers is Zachary, a detective newly hired at the very small but prestigious Green Mountain Detective Agency. He becomes obsessed with the case and finding Corrine, the little girl, a moth-loving eleven-year-old with autism. His wife, Muriel, translates Japanese poetry, particularly of a (fictional) poet that uses parenthesis to declare his most intimate and romantic sentiments. Muriel embraces and mimics these parenthetical poems to flirt with Zachary, but also because it is the subject of her book. But, they, too, have some unresolved issues. The missing and missing pieces flourish in meaning.

In fact, most of the novel has a kind of flirty voice to it--even when Simon is trying to be mordant, there is a light but poignant touch to his portrait as the pining dead. Memories and the missing. In totality, the primary thrust of the novel is Simon’s ghostly narration of memories and how his marriage to Lorca reflects and refracts Muriel and Zach’s marriage, and those unresolved pieces so relatable to readers and writers alike. I’m just sharing a brief overview of the theme that touched me the most. Simon says:

“…I was envious of people with repressed memories. Well, now, as memories arrive one after the next, I feel I am becoming almost entirely composed of them…I’, standing in a field out back and my own private drive-in movie screen is there and I have no choice as to which moments in the past are projected onto it.” And, oh, what fuss this can cause to someone stuck between two worlds!

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newlyweds Zachary and Muriel have recently moved into a beautiful farmhouse in Vermont.  Muriel has successfully defended her dissertation and earned her PhD and Zachary is settling in as the local rookie private detective with the Green Mountain Agency.

Their home security system is driving them mad because a sensor in their library keeps setting off the alarm.  What they don't know is that it isn't a system error but in fact a ghost.

Widow Lorca Pell sold the farmhouse to the couple after the death of her husband, author Simon Inescort.  
Simon, however, still feels right at home, spending much of his time in the library as he observes the lives of Zachary and Muriel and muses on his own life and marriage.

Zachary's first case is a dramatic one for the tight-knit community as he searches for a local eleven-year-old missing girl named Corrine Moore.  The stress of the case puts a strain on his marriage as the months pass and hope for Corrine's safe return begins to fade. 

The Ghost Clause is a contemplative portrait of two marriages within a ghost story that contains a mystery. 
While I appreciated Simon's sharp introspection and was curious about the mystery of the missing girl, the book never fully came together for me.  It felt like separate books were mixed together, making the storytelling uneven and I never knew where to focus my attention.  The characters were all quirky and extremely self aware but in a two-dimensional way that kept me distanced from them.

I wish I'd been able to appreciate this book more.  If you're an avid reader of introspective literary fiction, you may enjoy it more than I did!

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Edelweiss for providing me with a DRC in exchange for my honest review.  The Ghost Clause is scheduled for release on July 2, 2019.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much have liked Howard Norman's books, and I would likely put this one in second place behind The Museum Guard. I started with some trepidation, because to me it had the feel of a MFA novel, but as I kept with it I started caring about all the characters and the interplay of the community (Vermont), and in the end it hit me in the heart. The actual plot and setup is not overly remarkable, and it is part of his "nice" style (and I say that without criticism). It focuses on marriages and love. I wonder if it reflects some of his own relationship(s). Norman probably should be a better-known author, but he has produced some fine books during his career. And, who can resist a cover featuring a stocked library with a resting cat (though it should have been a Maine Coon).

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Beautiful and subdued ghost story set between two couples’ lives. This is not a scary story; it is a love story.

[Carol M · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is this book? The title indicates that is a ghost story or a mystery. There is a ghost narrator (who sets off the security alarm in the library). There is a mystery---the new husband in the house is searching for a missing child. There is also some reflection on marriage as the ghost narrator compares his marriage to the couple living in his Vermont farm house. Add in some erotic poetry translated from the Japanese by the detective's wife and you have I don't know what. The author tried to create a fairy tale; twee setting, perfectly imperfect characters. Despite the numerous elements I found irritating, overall I liked the book and I think others will find it somewhat entertaining.

Personally I found ALL the characters to be highly self-aware. Norman gives them little tics or habits
that I found precocious.

I appreciate NetGalley letting me read this book in exchange for a review.

[Fiona Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book did grab you in with interest with it writing style. It wasn't really plot driven more windows into to couples lives through the understanding of a ghost that was also an author. The writing style as I have said is more snape shots than plot driven. The build up, suspense to certain events really got me want to find out and stop me putting the book down but due to the style I found the payoff not as satisfying. The great thing about this book was the character development, given that this type of book would lead more to cardboard characters, this time they were fleshed out nicely. Would have like to go in deeper but this maybe to do with narrator (the ghost) preface than anything else. If you love The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald then you would love this book. #Netgallery

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did, but there just seemed to be an invisible wall between me and the narrative that kept me from being fully connected to what was happening. The back and forth between the ghost's life and marriage and the living couple's marriage and life, adding in the "mystery" of the missing girl and that whole investigation, just kept me pretty continuously confused about what story line I was currently meant to keep track of. The conversations were also long, and often without reference to who was speaking, and that was also an easy way to become lost. I think I enjoy a book that doesn't require quite so much effort.

[Ray Hubley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as any of Norman's other books (and I've read them all, I think) -- a hobby I picked up 35 years ago upon my first encounter with Northern Lights. The specificity and comfort of his timbre is close to indescribable.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!! I was first drawn to it by the cover to be honest, how could I resist a cat in a library!! I wasn't sure really how I would like the book, but it was well written and I found it a very good read.

The story is told from the point of view of Simon Inescort, and he is a ghost. The chapters are about he and his wife, Lorca Pell and also the current residents of the house, Zachary and Muriel a young married couple. They buy the house from Lorca after Simon dies from a heart attack while on a ferry to Nova Scotia. It is in the house deed that the "ghost clause" is mentioned, and thus the title. We get information about both their marriages and the ups and downs that come in all marriages. There is also a bit about the resident cat, Epilogue. He is the only one that can "see" Simon.

Another aspect of the story is that of a missing girl in the small town in Vermont where the house is located. Zachary is an independent detective hired to help find the little girl. So, that adds to the story.

This book is really hard to describe, but I did enjoy it and hope to read more by this author.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Zachary and Muriel purchase a farmhouse in Vermont. It happens to be inhabited by the ghost of the husband of the couple that previously lived there, Simon. It's really the story of two marriages, narrated by Simon as he observes the marriage of the young couple and reflects on his marriage. The pacing was a little uneven for me and at times it got a little esoteric, but in the end I adored the last chapter or two and it made the whole reading experience worth it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An old farmhouse in Vermont, bought by a young professional couple, and haunted by the last owner of the house, who also narrates the story. There are some lovely moments as Simon, the narrator, weaves the story of his life in the farmhouse with his wife Lorca, and life in general, in parallel with the story of Muriel and Zach, the young couple. So, there are two love stories here.
It's an interesting concept and it started well enough for me, but became a bit stale midway through. There is also a subplot about a missing little girl which I'm not sure enhanced the story much.
The writing was rich and nicely done, but I felt disconnected from the characters somehow especially Muriel, who felt one dimensional to me. I found it difficult to engage with her story.
3.5 stars from me.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I'm not sure that I loved the writing style (it kept me at a distance from the characters and was a bit pretentious... although considering it was told by the ghost of a writer it was probably intentional), I did end up finishing and liking the story. I did download the eArc on Edelweiss thinking the book, based on the cover, was more a cozy mystery. It is NOT a cozy mystery, although there is indeed an adorable cat who naps on typewriters.

[Amy Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun and fast read. I loved the characters, especially Epilogue the cat. I couldn't help but be distracted by the poetry though; I kept worrying that there was some deeper meaning that I was missing. I also feel that it ended a little abruptly. I would like to know what Lorca experienced when she read the found journals from her late husband...that he kept AFTER his death.

[peg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written character centered work with a perfect “ghostly” ending!

[Julia Nock · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is very good, so although I found the characters annoyingly self-involved, and, well, just annoying, I ended up being caught up in the book and enjoying it after all.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet ending. Ghost story POV of the ghost! Laughed out loud every time the alarm was tripped in the library!

[Mrsculpepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

first book i've had the pleasure of reading in one sitting in quite a while. nice meditation on marriage.

[Paul Edlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous book. Quiet, spare but lyrical, this is witty and erudite, and takes on the myriad faces of loss in a way I’ve never read before. I will read everything Mr. Norman has written.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just realized that Howard Norman is the only author who can reconcile me to ghosts and other supernatural phenomena. The ghost in question is that of Simon, who keeps hovering around the house that he and his wife, Lorca, lived in up until his accidental drowning. The bereaved Lorca has sold the house to a young couple, Zachary and Muriel, to live in her painting study and try to get on with her life. Simon is a silent witness to Zachary and Muriel's marriage, including their struggles to remain connected in a meaningful way when Zachary, a private investigator, gets too absorbed in his search for a missing autistic girl, or when Muriel's academic friends start to take up too much space in her life.. Beyond the former and present occupants of the house, the story manages to weave in the life of the small Vermont community, especially the search for the missing the girl and the general neighborly concern of otherwise fiercely independent individuals. Simon reminisces about his own relationship with Lorca, which had its own difficult moments during their struggles to conceive a child.

There might not be a lot of plot in the book, but there definitely is character development. Muriel and Zachary weather the first rough spots in their young marriage and come out stronger. Simon gradually lets go of his other-wordly tether to his old house and moves on. Lorca can move on, to some extent, by focusing on her painting.

I loved the book and I had absolutely no problem with the idea of a ghost being able to write notebooks or type notes. I loved the stories of the two marriages, the notes that Zachary dictates every time he chases down a false lead in the case of the missing girl, and even the academic chit-chat of Muriel and her friends. I enjoyed the Japanese poems, part of Muriel's dissertation, that were sprinkled here and there in the book. I was interested in reading about the many ways in which this small rural community supports its members. Most of all, though, I liked the tone of memory and loss. To me, the book was about how we have to say goodbye to the people, places and experiences we loved, but that as long as we have our memories, it doesn't necessarily have to be a heart-wrenchingly sad goodbye. We take our memories with us, even if we become ghosts, and they sustain and nourish (and occasionally, torment) us in moments of loneliness. So, despite Simon's detached tone and gradual withdrawal from the physical world, I found this a comforting, hopeful, warm book, but in a very unsentimental way. As a matter of fact, I borrowed the book from the library but I think I will buy a copy for future re-readings.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel, set in rural Vermont, had its moments, but was a disappointment in the end. I liked the setting, having lived in Vermont for four years back in the 70's. I liked the character sketch of the woman who works at the co-op; she reminded me of the sometimes cantankerous Vermonters I had to deal with. But I found the dialogue between married partners stilted and unrealistic. Do married people really speak so formally, bending over backwards to be considerate at every moment of the day? Not in my experience of almost 50 years of married life.

The set up had promise: two married couples living sequentially in an old Vermont farmhouse with its own history, one husband having recently died unexpectedly, and lurking in an "ongoing" mode, mostly in the library of the home after the new couple moves in.

There are comic scenes that work well. There is a missing child and the detective work that leads to her discovery. Everyone in town seems to be an artist or at least an artisan. It's kind of an idealized Vermont without the poverty and resentment. The writing was fine. The ending was lame. The ghost dutifully gets in the car and leaves with his wife once she realizes he's "lurking." Was that supposed to be comic? Not sure. Not sure about a lot of it.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This turned out to be completely different than what I'd expected. The summaries and teasers I'd read for this book made it seem almost farcical- the young couple and the ghost! How will they get along??? That kind of thing.

Instead I found a beautiful, intelligent story that has both heartbreak and comfort- both from unusual angles.

At first the characters annoyed me; their pretentiousness was a big overwhelming. I did get used to them (they are so high maintenance!) and enjoyed the story being told around them.

Recommend for a bittersweet reason. Warning: you'll want a farmhouse in Vermont by the time you finish reading.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

11.18.22
I changed my rating from 5 stars (first read 2019) to 3. This time around I found it long-winded and too repetitive.

It was worth the wait for Howard Norman's new book, a ghost story narrated by the ghost. Norman employs his signature style (plain, matter-of-fact language, understated dialogue) to bring the unique and quirky out of ordinary characters, to show them stepping up to meet their challenges, behaving authentically. A quiet celebration of what it means to be human (even when dead).

And the cat in this story is delightful.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good book. Good writing, characters, ghosts.... except for the English Phd using "Me and Zachary"