Partners Josie and Derek are no strangers to the many manifestations of grief: Derek suffered a childhood weighed down by the death of the older brother he never got to meet, while Josie inherited from her grandmother the gift of spirit communication. Both are now struggling to keep their New Orleans-inspired restaurant, Miss Sylvie’s, afloat in the competitive Manhattan scene. Derek struggles with Josie’s insistence that a table in their restaurant be set aside for spirits he doesn’t even believe in; Josie bumps against Derek’s pessimism for their prospects of keeping Miss Sylvie’s afloat. At the encouragement of a therapist, they decide to hire a manager, and soon land on Stephanie. Derek is wary about her competence and character (“I’m not sure. Something felt off”), but Stephanie is enthusiastic and promises to bring the business to life with weekly happy hours and live music. This enthusiasm is misplaced, and Stephanie soon proves to be as much of a threat as rising rent prices. In the midst of all this, Josie meets with her absent father and is forced to accept that he will always prioritize Josie’s stepmother over her. When spirits convey the message that Derek’s mother is dying, the pair must reckon with their histories. Buchwald’s story is one of making peace with the past, embracing the complexities of grief, and fighting to move forward. It is refreshing to find a narrative featuring ghosts that doesn’t give into the tropes of horror, and that works to fully characterize each and every spirit who appears. There are points where the tone of the writing fails to match the more intense stakes of the story, and more could be done to make the protagonists active agents—the novel’s strengths are its most sentimental moments and the characters readers will come to root for.
