Review by Booklist Review
Jeanie Masterson knew she'd one day take over the family business, Masterson Funeral Directors. She has a gift perfectly suited for the industry: she can speak to the dead. The dead don't always want to chat, and Jeanie can't speak to them for long, but she can always hear the last words of those on her embalming table. Jeanie gave up a tumultuous relationship with a boy who moved to London years ago, and built a stable life with her family in Kilcross, but officially accepting her new position means the door to a new life outside of Ireland is well and truly closed. When the London boy she let go returns to Kilcross, Jeanie's life is turned upside down. With shades of the TV show Pushing Daisies and Anna Hope's Expectation (2020), Griffin's (When All Is Said, 2019) novel sets the pull of the unknown against the comfort of home. With a twinge of the supernatural and a close-knit ensemble of supporting characters, Griffin charts a compelling journey of exploration, independence, and self-acceptance.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Irish writer Griffin (When All Is Said) follows in her frustrating latest a young woman who can talk to the recently dead. Jeanie Masterson grows up in the small town of Kilcross, where her funeral director father, David, has earned a reputation for sharing the last wishes of the dead. David teaches her the tricks of their trade, and she marries Niall, a childhood friend, seeming content with the plan to one day take over the family business. But when her parents announce their retirement, she questions her life choices. Jeanie reflects on her first love and her regret for not moving to London with him, the weight of her gift for clairvoyancy, her fear of having children, and her struggle to save her failing marriage. When she suffers a devastating loss, Jeanie leaves Ireland to visit a friend in Oslo, where she seems on her way to find some peace until she learns a dark secret about her family. The author does a good job building out the central premise ("not all wanted to talk or, as Dad said over the years that followed, needed to," Jeanie narrates, explaining why she only hears from some of the dead), but often gets mired in flat prose and unconvincing romantic subplots. Griffin's fans will appreciate this, but others can take a pass. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Jeanie Masterson can hear the dead, an inherited gift that has helped her undertaker family thrive in their small Irish town. It's not easy--sometimes, she carefully doesn't share what the dead have said--and after leaving school nearly two decades ago to join the business and settle into mindless marriage, she has a chance to follow another path. Following Griffin's debut, When All Is Said, a No. 1 Irish Times best seller. With a 75,000-copy first printing.
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