In Hen Town, North Carolina, generations of
residents have had strong opinions about the Wester women; some want to
be them, others fear them and still others want to ruin them. Once in a
while, someone even loves them.
Paper Ghosts begins with the
story of Willamena "Wills" Wester as a high school student. As a member
of the school's popular clique, she felt trapped by her family's
expectations for her future. In an attempt to rebel, she sealed her fate
to stay in Hen Town and Wester House for the rest of her life. Years
later, when her son moves back to town with his daughter, Bailey, Wills
tries not to repeat her own grandmother's mistakes as Bailey grows up,
but the ghosts of Wills' past turn out to be hard to avoid and Bailey is
a lot more like Wills than anyone would like to admit.
Amy's Review
The Wester women tend to be wealthy, reclusive, all-knowing, and intimidating so, through their generations, the townspeople sometimes call them witches. It’s as if the Wester women have eyes and ears everywhere. In the 1970s, teenage Willamena Wester generally follows all of her grandmother’s rules but, when Willamena makes a last-minute decision of her own, tragedy strikes. She becomes ruled by fear and resentment and eventually molds her granddaughter into the person she thinks she should be.
I always adore Sarah Addison Allen’s magical realism and her southern characters and settings. I loved the concept that photographs of dead people are “paper ghosts”. All her novels are entirely different from each other, which is incredible. While the magic in this one was creative, as expected, Allen didn’t allow us to get to know her main characters very well because she had to keep their motivations and impulses mysterious. Because of this, I did not particularly care all that much about them. They were portrayed very stoically with their primary personality traits being bossiness, self-imposed loneliness, and secrecy.
The secondary characters were more interesting to me, even though they were on the lower end of the Sarah Addison Allen Quirky Scale. Unlike the Wester women, the other characters were free to do anything and become whomever they wanted to be. Perhaps the moral of the story is to live the life you want to live. Make mistakes, face consequences, and don’t lock yourself away. Don’t make drastic life decisions because of one situation. And understand that you also have to let your children become their own people.
Lynnie's Review
In many
ways, this book is darker and has a more gothic feel that many of Sarah Addison Allen's earlier books (I didn't realize I had read most of them before we started this blog!). I felt a lot of empathy for all of the
characters and generally enjoyed watching them grow throughout the book.
I was eager to see how their stories would be resolved and hoped to get
answers to many of the questions I had as I read. I did get answers,
but only to some of the questions.
Ultimately, I
enjoyed my time with the Westers and the rest of Hen Town just as I knew
I would when opening a book by SAA; it often left me feeling like I was
getting a cozy fall hug. While this book was a little less magical and a
little more paranormal than a typical SAA book, I think her usual fans
will really enjoy it.
Paper Ghosts will be published on September 1, 2026.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and Sarah Addison Allen for the advanced reader copy.
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