A Reunion of Ghosts
‘A triumphant, beautiful, and devastating novel about coincidences, family, and the sins of our fathers’ Anthony Doerr, author of All The Light We Cannot See
‘Had me devouring the pages … Tragic, touching and – against all odds – strangely uplifting’ Stylist Magazine, 5 Stars
Meet the Alter sisters: Lady, Vee and Delph. These three mordantly witty, complex women share their family’s apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. They love each other fiercely, but being an Alter isn’t easy. Bad luck is in their genes, passed down through the generations. Yet no matter what life throws at these siblings, they always have a wisecrack – and each other.
In the waning days of 1999, the sisters decide it’s time to close the circle of the Alter curse. But first, as the world counts down to the dawn of a new millennium, Lady, Vee and Delph must write the final chapter of a saga generations in the making – one that is inexorably intertwined with that of the twentieth century itself. Unspooling threads of history, personal memory and family lore, they weave a mesmerising account of their lives that stretches back decades to their great-grandfather, a brilliant scientist whose professional triumph became the sinister legacy that defines them.
Magnificent and heartbreaking, A REUNION OF GHOSTS is an epic novel about three unforgettable women, bound to each other and their remarkable family through the blessings and the burdens bestowed by blood.
”'Had me devouring the pages … A story that’s tragic, touching and - against all odds - strangely uplifting” - Stylist Magazine, 5 Stars
”'One of the sharpest, tartest, flat-out funniest books you're likely to read any time soon… A master-class in tragi-comedy” - Hepzibah Anderson, Jewish Chronicle
”'A triumphant, beautiful, and devastating novel about coincidences, family, and the sins of our fathers” - Anthony Doerr, author of All The Light We Cannot See
”'My favourite novel of the year … This mordantly funny story of the Alter sisters is a literary mash-up of The Virgin Suicides and Grey Gardens. I wouldn't be surprised if Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola are slugging it out for the film rights already.” - Sam Baker, Harpers Bazaar, Books of 2015
”'A book about suicide, written by three damaged characters hell-bent on self-destruction? It may not sound a barrel of laughs, but this is not only poignant and moving, but genuinely funny ” - with the humour ranging from the darkest comedy to some superbly silly puns’ Daily Mail
”'A Reunion of Ghosts is a very funny book but it is also tender, sombre and thought-provoking” - Financial Times
”'Mitchell's masterful family saga is as funny as it is aching … For the Alters, life has been a seemingly endless series of tragedies; for us, the tragedy is that this stunning novel inevitably comes to an end” - Kirkus, starred review
”'This original tale is black comedy at its best” - People
”'The Alter sisters are mordant, wry and crystalline in wit and vision; it is a tremendous pleasure to rocket through generations of their family histories with them” - Lauren Groff, author of Arcadia
”'A rich portrait of a complicated family, at turns violent and hilarious, shot through with love and death and the scars that reappear generation after generation” - Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers
”'Dark but comedic, A Reunion of Ghosts is the portrait of four generations of a complicated family” - Buzzfeed, 'The Most Exciting New Books of 2015’