The Comfort of Ghosts
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4.6 • 230 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A milestone in historical mystery fiction as Maisie Dobbs takes her final bow!
The Comfort of Ghosts completes Jacqueline Winspear’s ground-breaking and internationally bestselling series.
“An outstanding historical series.”—The New York Times
“Winspear is a brilliant writer, mixing the history and the mystery with the psychology of criminals and victims.”—The Historical Novel Society
Psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs unravels a profound mystery from her past in a war-torn nation grappling with its future.
London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion—the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.
Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.
The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours—and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance. This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the wistful final installment of Winspear's bestselling Maisie Dobbs series (after A Sunlit Weapon), the gumshoe psychologist confronts postwar chaos in 1945 London. At the funeral of her former father-in-law, Maisie hears about people squatting in his London home, and offers to investigate. When she arrives, she finds that one occupant is the son of an old friend; he's emaciated and traumatized after being held in a Japanese incarceration camp. The other four are young orphans trained to work with the civilian army in the event of a German invasion who've gone into hiding after witnessing a murder. Based on the orphans' timid testimony, Maisie sets out to investigate the killing, and then discovers a packet of old letters that reveal new information about her long-dead former husband. Winspear renders the physical and emotional wreckage of postwar England with her usual sensitivity, and though the narrative gets a bit bogged down in reminiscences about Maisie's previous exploits, the author's fans are unlikely to mind. It's a fitting, heartwarming conclusion to a beloved series.
Customer Reviews
Finale lives on…in our heart and soul!
I loved every minute of reading this book and never wanted it to end. I started with the first book in the series and cheered when each succeeding book came out. Yes, everyone should read the series. One has to love Maizie and her family. The author did a marvelous job of helping the reader become knowledgeable about the wars. We became sensitized about the sufferings of EVERYONE. Peace! Thanks.
Disappointing
Poor end to an otherwise wonderful series. Too much reiteration of previous plot lines, probably ¾ of the book, and too little carrying forward of the main characters’ lives. Disappointing all around.
All the Maisie Dobbs books….
I am beyond sad. I loved all the Maisie Dobbs books and wanted them to never end! Thank you, dear Jacqueline, for writing and sharing these wonderful books. I just finished the last one with tears in my eyes…