Name: The Ghost Notebooks
ISBN: 9781101971611

Ben Dolnick

A Belletrist Book Club Pick When Nick Beron and Hannah Rampe decide to move from New York City to the tiny upstate town of Hibernia, they're in desperate need of a change: their careers have flatlined, the city is exhausting, and they've reached a relationship stalemate. So Hannah accepts a job as live-in director of the Wright Historic House, a museum dedicated to an obscure nineteenth-century philosopher whose life was marred by tragedy. At first, life in this old, creaky house feels cozy. Nick and Hannah explore the deserted museum at night, wandering the twisting halls and sneakily trying out the former owners' original master bed. But as summer turns to fall, Hannah begins to have trouble sleeping; reluctantly, she tells Nick she's hearing whispers in the night. Then one morning, Nick wakes up to find Hannah gone. In his frantic search for her, Nick will discover the hidden legacy of Wright House: a man driven wild with grief, and a spirit aching for home.

The Ghost Notebooks

"A supernatural story of love, ghosts, and madness as a young couple, newly engaged, become caretakers of a historic museum"--

Zoe Smolen

I can't quite decide if this book was genius or awful, or somewhere in between. The plot takes multiple turns and none of them are quite developed enough to feel like the author knew what he was doing, yet at the end of the book I wasn't disappointed. At most its worst, it felt like a 500 page book that was cut in half. At it's best it was a pretty compelling ghost story. 

Thanks to Penguin First to Read for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Belletrist Book of the Month "[An] elegant, eerie new novel . . . Powerful." —The Washington Post A supernatural story of love, ghosts, and madness as a young couple, newly engaged, become caretakers of a historic museum. When Nick Beron and Hannah Rampe decide to move from New York City to the tiny upstate town of Hibernia, they aren't exactly running away, but they need a change. Their careers have flatlined, the city is exhausting, and they've reached a relationship stalemate. Hannah takes a job as live-in director of the Wright Historic House, a museum dedicated to an obscure nineteenth-century philosopher, and she and Nick swiftly move into their new home. The town’s remoteness, the speed with which Hannah is offered the job, and the lack of museum visitors barely a blip in their consideration. At first, life in this old, creaky house feels cozy—they speak in Masterpiece Theater accents and take bottles of wine to the swimming hole. But as summer turns to fall, Hannah begins to have trouble sleeping and she hears whispers in the night. One morning, Nick wakes up to find Hannah gone. In his frantic search for her, Nick will discover the hidden legacy of Wright House: a man driven wild with grief, and a spirit aching for home.

A Novel

Ana Couto

I finished The Ghost Notebooks earlier this month, and although it wasn’t a major page-turner for me, I still enjoyed the narrative and the writing style. In a nutshell, it’s about a couple, Hannah and Nick, who move into a live-in house museum in which they become the caretakers. However, the house is very old and is inhabited by the spirits of its former tenants, some of which begin to torment Hannah (I promise it’s not as creepy and paranormal as it sounds). The book greatly centers around mental illness — the different ways in which it manifests and the varying ways people cope with it. It’s not what I would call a “happy” story by any means (definitely not a light summer read), but I found it interesting nonetheless (and it’s relatively short, so it reads quite quickly).

Chris G

Oddly bland writing that, on later reflection, maybe meant as a meta reference to some writings mentioned in the book. The story itself is pretty paint by numbers but the concepts introduced in the last few chapters have haunted me fore the past few weeks.

The Ghost Notebooks

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