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An Unlikely Visitor

by Joanna Cannon

A disappearance revisited through grief and the uncanny

Regular price $23.28 USD
Regular price $38.81 USD Sale price $23.28 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praise from Sarah Winman

    Sarah Winman calls the book an “engaging mystery” and “a perfect book for today's world.”

AlbakiReads Editorial

A disappearance revisited through grief and the uncanny

After her husband Derek dies, Margaret is left alone with the unresolved disappearance of their daughter, Jeanie. An unexpected visitor prompts her to revisit the case, knocking on doors in search of a different ending to the story. The book brings mystery and ghost-story elements together with a meditation on bereavement and the persistence of family bonds. Its central investigation is also a return to a past Margaret and Derek never managed to leave behind.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • For readers interested in mysteries shaped by family history and an unresolved disappearance.
  • For readers drawn to fiction exploring bereavement and the presence of the past.
  • For readers who enjoy stories combining mystery with ghost-story elements.

Themes

Grief and bereavementFamily bondsUnresolved disappearanceMemory and the pastMystery and the uncanny

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

From the internationally bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep comes a funny, poignant, and "engaging mystery...a perfect book for today's world" (Sarah Winman, author of Still Life) about a woman who encounters the ghosts of her past as she untangles the truth behind her daughter's disappearance.

Margaret thinks her time is up...

Things have been hard since her husband Derek died, and they never got over the disappearance of their daughter, Jeanie, all those years ago. With his support, it seemed like everything would be okay--okay enough, that is.

But now Derek's gone. Margaret moves through the days slowly, quietly, alone. Then one day, Margaret returns home to an unlikely visi-tor, and together they set out to discover what really happened to Jeanie. Perhaps if she knocks on enough doors, she might find another end to the story.

Part mystery, part ghost story, part meditation on grief, An Unlikely Visitor is a "moving, funny, compassionate, and wise" (Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie) reminder that the people we love are always with us.
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