Coming Soon: Ghosts of Harvard

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I had not realized I had been waiting for this book. 

I met Francesca Serritella at the National Book Fair because her mom, Lisa Scottoline, writes fantastic legal thrillers and she was speaking that day. I was delighted to discover that Scottoline, along with Serritella, wrote a series of books and columns that readers that I quickly began to consume. I had not known Serritella was taking a stab at writing a novel until I saw Serritella’s post for “Ghosts of Harvard” on her Facebook page. Simply put, this novel was a fantastic read. 

Cody decides to Harvard to discover why her older brother, a schizophrenic, committed suicide there. Her parents are against it, but Cody, who was quite close to her brother before he started to demonstrate the symptoms of his illness, suffers guilt from not being able to do something to stop her brother from ending his life. Cody’s desire to find answers to her brother’s death are heartbreakingly believable. 

Like any college freshman, Cody struggles to fit in, but unlike most freshman, she’s at a competitive school where her classmates are the best of the best while she also deals with her grief. Yet during her first week of classes, Cody starts hearing voices, but what is not clear is whether she is also demonstrating symptoms of the same mental illness her brother supposedly had or if the voices are from actual ghosts, the same ones who might have also conversed with her brother. 

This novel is touted as a psychological thriller, but I think it can also be categorized as a coming of age story. Cody’s voice is quite real and as I read about her interactions with roommates and her efforts to keep up with coursework, I had flashbacks to my own angst-ridden college years. I also have lost a family through suicide and the author did an impeccable job of demonstrating Cody’s pain to the reader in a sympathetic and understandable way. I blame Serritella for writing so well that I put aside my work for two days to finish this book. 

“Ghosts of Harvard” is a must read for anyone who wants a story that resonates with them long after finishing the last page. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This novel becomes available on May 5, 2020. For more information, please see: Ghosts of Harvard

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