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Review: A Reunion of Ghosts

Slow death by laughter

April 17, 2015 16:07
Judith Claire Mitchell — offers a master-class in tragi-comedy
2 min read

By Judith Claire Mitchell
4th Estate, £14.99

Judith Claire Mitchell's second novel takes the form of a 370-page suicide note. Make that a triple suicide note. It's also one of the sharpest, tartest, flat-out funniest books you're likely to read any time soon.

Taking its title from the collective noun for spooks, A Reunion of Ghosts is narrated by Lady, Vee and Delph Alter. A divorcee, a widower and a spinster respectively, the 40-something sisters share - among other traits and convictions - feminism, shortness, and a fondness for excessive tippling and mordant word play.

Even if they didn't sometimes share clothes, too, they'd probably still be mistaken for one another by neighbours on New York's Upper West Side, where they live together in the rent-controlled apartment in which they grew up. It's little wonder they tell their story in the first person plural.