Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

This is a story about loss and grief and you best suspend any disbelief about ghosts and mediums.

Connie lost her mother but she still gets calls from her on a very old mobile phone - something that is apparently called clairaudience. She is a jobbing actor who lived with her mother and now has to sell the house because her brother inherited it jointly. I was actually quite annoyed at her mother for not stipulating the house go to her alone!

Luke has lost his wife Helen, and his six year old daughter Amy her mother. He is a very busy architect and struggles not just with losing his wife but now being a single parent to a grieving child, juggling child care with a demanding job and an unsympathetic work environment.

Lucasta Liversidge is a famous writer and also medium who sees ghosts all the time. She always has her grumpy assistant Phoebe in tow, even when she makes a surprise appearance at a Bereavement Café in Dublin. Here she meets a broad spectrum of grieving people, containing café owner Will, Connie, Luke, teenagers Alex and Lucy, school principal Stella and a mother/daughter duo that can't stop baking for their weekly sessions.

I loved the community and friendship aspect of the story and the fact that it's emotional and hopeful. Everyone of us has a different way of dealing with grief, none right or wrong, and everyone has a different problem, like dealing with children, work or financial troubles. 

I wasn't convinced of the magical realism aspect though. Sure, it's a story, but mediums are trying to make money by hoodwinking grieving people, and I felt it was irresponsible peddling a version where they are both truthful and in touch with the dead. Having a dead mother ring you on an old brick phone for a natter while you're at the theatre felt like slapstick. Also, some of the characters did barely get any story at all - you could have cut Alex and Lucy from the book completely without anyone missing them.

All in all, it's heartwarming though how the bereaved people come together and help each other. The solutions often felt a bit convenient and I fail to see how an architect striking out on his own will have a better work/life balance than before, but hey, this is fiction with a gorgeous cover. Read if you like Jojo Moyes and Cecelia Ahern.