The Ghost Clause, Howard Norman
The Ghost Clause, Howard Norman
1 Rating(s)
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The Ghost Clause

Author: Howard Norman

Narrator: Jim Meskimen

Unabridged: 7 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/31/2019

Synopsis

National Book Award Finalist Howard Norman delivers another provocative, haunting novel, this time set in a Vermont village and featuring a missing child, a newly married private detective, and a highly relatable ghost.Simon Inescort is no longer bodily present in his marriage. It’s been several months since he keeled over the rail of a Nova Scotia–bound ferry, a massive heart attack to blame. Simon’s widow, Lorca Pell, has sold their farmhouse to newlyweds Zachary and Muriel—after revealing that the deed contains a “ghost clause,” an actual legal clause, not unheard of in Vermont, allowing for reimbursement if a recently purchased home turns out to be haunted.In fact, Simon finds himself still at home: “Every waking moment, I’m astonished I have any consciousness … What am I to call myself now, a revenant?” He spends time replaying his marriage in his own mind, as if in poignant reel-to-reel, while also engaging in occasionally intimate observation of the new homeowners. But soon the crisis of a missing child, a local eleven-year-old, threatens the tenuous domestic equilibrium, as the weight of the case falls to Zachary, a rookie private detective with the Green Mountain Agency.The Ghost Clause is a heartrending, affirming portrait of two marriages—one in its afterlife, one new and erotically charged—and of the Vermont village life that sustains and remakes them.

About Howard Norman

Howard Norman’s novels The Northern Lights and The Bird Artist were nominated for National Book Awards. He is the author, most recently, of What Is Left the Daughter and My Darling Detective.

About Jim Meskimen

Jim Meskimen is a stage, film, and television actor who has appeared in many well-known movies and television shows. He acted in Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon for director Ron Howard, both of which were nominated for Best Picture Oscars. His television appearances include The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, Lie to Me, Criminal Minds, and Parks and Recreation. He is also a painter, award-winning audiobook narrator, and audiobook director for Galaxy Audio.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul

I'm not much of a fan of ghost stories, but The Ghost Clause had me hooked from the moment I took it off the library shelf. On the cover is a photograph of a large private library full of books that appear to be real, well read books and not something set up by an art director. In the foreground, th......more

Goodreads review by Lisa

Writer Simon Inescort died of a heart attack on a ferry, yet he still lives at his and his wife Lorca's home in Vermont. Simon, who is a ghost now, tells the reader stories about what he witnesses of the comings and goings of the new occupants of his home, Zachary and Muriel. He also reminisces abou......more

Quotes

“Howard Norman, who has always stood admirably apart, has reinvented the ghost story; in the process he has crafted a novel not only suspenseful but elegiac, consoling, and wholly absorbing.” Jhumpa Lahiri, New York Times bestselling author

“In his ever-exquisite, lapidary prose, Howard Norman shows us in The Ghost Clause how we might best cherish our time…This is a lovely novel indeed.” Chang-Rae Lee, New York Times bestselling author

“The Ghost Clause is a meditation on many kinds of mystery, not the least of which is the persistent ongoingness of love.” Alice McDermott, National Book Award–winning author

“A heart-wrenching story of endings and grief but also of new beginnings.” BookReporter

“Narrator Jim Meskimen keeps all the themes and characters in balance, so when we realize that the real subject of the novel is an exploration of love in its many forms, we are pleased and satisfied. He also conveys the strong love of central Vermont that has drawn the various characters together in a setting that is very nearly a character itself.” AudioFile

“Norman poignantly examines the trajectory of two marriages from the viewpoint of a dead writer…This is an astute, beautifully written novel.” Publishers Weekly

“Thoughtful, elegiac, a good book to read by the fireside with a snifter of bourbon.” Library Journal

“A paean to married love, creative endeavors, and compassion, and a delving look at love, loss, memory, and the afterlife…Norman’s atmospheric, wise, and witty novel has the radiance, hiss, and snap of a hearth fire on a wintry night.” Booklist

“What opens as a ghost story turns out to be something of a love story instead…[Norman} still has a knack for finding emotional resonances in muted, unlikely scenarios.” Kirkus Reviews

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