The World Before Us: A Novel

"A gaggle of querulous ghosts narrates the events in this novel by Aislinn Hunter, who brings a moody grace to the phantoms and to her telling of this quirky tale. Protagonist Jane works as an archivist at an eccentric, musty museum, and on the side she investigates the 1877 disappearance of a girl in the English countryside. The twist: As a teen, Jane’s 5-year-old charge went missing in these same woods. Ghost-story tropes abound, from a spooky abandoned asylum to a haunted country house, and at the center is a brutal, long-buried crime. The novel’s tough truths make The World Before Us a memorable read."