Book Review: Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen
Key Book Info
Genre: Magical Realism, Contemporary, Fiction
Publication Date: September 1, 2026
Page Count: 288
Listening Time: 7 hours 9 minutes
Print Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Audio Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen
Book Review and Rating
Sarah Addison Allen continues to put out magical realism that feels ethereal and gently mysterious. Paper Ghosts is her most recent novel and has the same general feeling of her prior novel Other Birds, which I loved. The story centers on a family in North Carolina told through the lens of multi-generational women who have a mysterious pull to their home coupled with witchy reputations in their small town.
Bailey and her grandmother are the main characters in the story, and I loved the eagerness of Bailey to learn her family history while also experiencing a coming-of-age arc. It endeared her me quickly and helped establish the undercurrent mystery of her family and the overlay murder mystery. Both were done well and interwoven in a way that worked. Marin Ireland narrated the audiobook and knocked it out of the park, as always. I love when I hear a familiar voice and this was my twelfth book of hers I have listened to.
I truly enjoy this author and it’s a bonus that she is local to where I live. It makes me so happy to get early copies of her novels, and I appreciate Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for sending me this advanced copy in exchange for my review. You are the best, thank you!
My rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen
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