Book Review: A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Clare Mitchell

Jenna reviews a fantastic April release that will surely be a favourite of 2015.

In the Manhattan home they grew up in, the three Alter sisters have a chart on the back of a bedroom door which lists their family tree and all the ways they have committed suicide:

We're the last of the Alter line; we're all that there is, there ain't no more; and we've brought the family name no glory.

Lady (divorcee), Vee (widow) & Delph (spinster) believe they are doomed by a curse that stems from the sins of their Great-Grandfather, which visits the third and fourth generations down.
What did their Great-Grandfather do? Well, he has the unfortunate irony of being the Jewish inventor of the murderous gas used in WWII death camps, and his three leftover descendants have decided to trim the ends off family tree for good and add their names to this grim family tree.
Death scheduled: December 31, 1999.

Q: How do three sisters write a single suicide note?

A; The same way a porcupine makes love: carefully.

With very familiar feelings of Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides; we are narrated the complex history of their forebears in this highly detailed and dare I say it, rather hilarious collective suicide note. I can see many customers pushing this book away as the subject matter is not inviting, but I was truly charmed by the sisters as made their bleak plans. A Reunion of Ghosts is an immersing family portrait which depicts an incredible bond between eccentric siblings.

A Reunion of Ghosts is out now.