Name: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Rating: 3.916666666666667 (6 reviews)
ISBN: 9780804173483

R. A. Dick

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Caroline Clutterbuck Kapulkin

Sarah Sammis

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a bitter sweet tale. I'm not sure Lucy ever truely got to be herself in the course of her life. The captain tried to teach her but in the end she seems to have just followed what he said. If she wasn't following his lead then she was bowing to the pressures of her sister in law or those of her children.

The basis for Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s cinematic romance starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. Burdened by debt after her husband's death, Lucy Muir insists on moving into the very cheap Gull Cottage in the quaint seaside village of Whitecliff, despite multiple warnings that the house is haunted. Upon discovering the rumors to be true, the young widow ends up forming a special companionship with the ghost of handsome former sea captain Daniel Gregg. Through the struggles of supporting her children, seeking out romance from the wrong places, and working to publish the captain's story as a book, Blood and Swash, Lucy finds in her secret relationship with Captain Gregg a comfort and blossoming love she never could have predicted. Originally published in 1945, made into a movie in 1947, and later adapted into a television sitcom in 1968, this romantic tale explores how love can develop without boundaries, both in this life and beyond. With a new foreword by Adriana Trigiani. Vintage Movie Classics spotlights classic films that have stood the test of time, now rediscovered through the publication of the novels on which they were based.

Vintage Movie Classics

In the end, not what I expected! I do wish there had been more romance. But this was a touching tale of a meek woman learning to live for herself, through the encouragement of her household ghost. I’m curious to see the movie, as I think it will be more romantic.
The rest of the book was a meandering slice-of-life, and a bit dry at times, but I enjoyed it overall.

That last page was chilling. I wish there had been more, I wanted more at the end!

Lots of simple yet thoughtful insights on being a woman and a single mother, an unhappy widow making her own life for herself. Particularly the relationship between a mother watching her children grow up, yet still trying to maintain her sense of self apart from simply “Motherhood.”
(Her son Cyril was absolutely insufferable! Oof!)

Oddly, more humor than I expected! “Blood And Swash” was a totally funny twist. And I enjoyed the banter between Lucy and Captain Gregg. This was written in the 1940s, so there is some age on it, but ultimately I thought it was a relatable depiction of fond bickering between two people who want the best for each other, and help each other become better.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

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