Paper Ghosts

by Sarah Addison Allen

Genres: Literary Fiction; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

The highly anticipated new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Other Birds hailed as “whimsical, wise, and delightfully mysterious.” (Real Simple)

Every family has its secrets...The Wester women live inside theirs.

For generations, Wester House has stood as a monument to influence and mystery in a small North Carolina town, and the Wester women have held the community enthralled. People respect them, many fear them, but no one truly understands them. How do they possess such an intimate, unsettling knowledge of those around them? Why is no one ever allowed inside the house? And why is Willamena Wester finally reaching out to the granddaughter she once pushed away?

The Westers have always balanced their need for control with their desire for love, but when that balance is off, disaster happens. To truly understand, you have to meet Willamena fifty years before. As a love-struck young woman trapped in a stifling, picture-perfect life, she makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.

Now Willamena's granddaughter, Bailey, is coming back to a town she tried to outrun, only to realize that the grandmother she feared was actually her fiercest protector. In a world of hidden truths, can a legacy of unhappiness be unmade? And what does it take to finally break a curse? Bailey is about to learn that even the oldest hauntings can be healed by a new spark of hope.

Sarah Addison Allen’s stunning prose, steeped in magical realism, will transport you to a place where enchantment is around every corner, and love finds a way of bringing us home.

Release date: September 1, 2026

Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Print pages: 304