We all have that one house that sparks our wonder. We wonder who lives there. Or what does the inside look like? Or if it is a particular old house or looks creepy, is it haunted?

Jane Flanagan discovered the old, abandoned Victorian mansion when she was a teenager, and it became the place she escaped to, avoiding her alcoholic mother. But twenty years later when Jane returns to Maine, the house is hardly recognizable after Genevieve fully remodels it into a dream home.

But Genevieve’s dream house is less than perfect because she believes that the house is haunted after her little boy reports a little girl has been keeping him awake most nights. She hires Jane to find out who the little girl is, so she can firmly ask the spirit to move on. The story Jane uncovers takes us back in time to before Maine was a state.

My honest review is that the book attempts to do a little too much. The author seems to explore and provide commentary on the treatment of indigenous people and their remains, but this point seemingly gets lost among the plot of a series of women making serious missteps in their marriages. Add in a ghost story and generational trauma, and so you have a bit of a mess. The story also gets a little weighed down in the details supporting the plot. Some characters and their subsequent stories feel needless.

Overall, I would tell a future reader to proceed with a notepad to help keep details straight. A 2.5 stars out of five.