To my friends in the Northeast: I hope you all are safe and dry wherever you are. I know this storm is far from over, but we hope that you are through the worst of it.
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If someone dies and no one knows about her life, does that mean she didn’t have one?
Lara’s having a tough time. Her business partner has run off to India, where she’s pursuing a romance. Her boyfriend has dumped her. She’s the poor relation to her Uncle Bill, founder of a major chain of coffee houses and creator of a well known motivational seminar series. Her parents feel sorry for her, and she spends most of her energy pretending that nothing is wrong.
When her great-aunt Sadie dies at 105, the last thing Lara wants to do is to attend the funeral of a woman she never knew. Imagine her shock, then, when the ghost of Aunt Sadie appears at the funeral as a young, petulant, demanding young woman whom only Lara can see.
In this rollicking, sometimes laugh-out-loud treasure of a book, Sophie Kinsella deftly reveals both Lara and Sadie, thrown together by chance, with neither of them happy about it. Sadie thinks Lara is boring, and Lara is upset because Sadie shows up at the worst times, leading friends, colleagues, and family to believe that Lara has gone off the deep end.
As we all face our own mortality, we may find ourselves questioning our own legacy. Who will know our stories? Will we, in fact, understand what stories we have left behind? Fall in love with Sadie as you ponder these questions. Walk side by side with Lara as she struggles with confidence. Perhaps, in the end, you’ll see your own life differently. It’s Hallowe’en week after all…why not read a fun ghost story?