The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

I found this one in a charity shop and read it in a day. It was a while after that I saw the tv series, and a while after that the movie. And it’s another one I still have in my bookshelves.

It’s another story about finding your place in the world, but at the same time, it’s about a timid widow, mother of two, finding herself through the mentorship of the ghost of a well travelled sailor. One who’s there waiting for her at the end of her life, not her bloody husband! 

They made this story into a movie which is still one of my favourites, but the book is even better. Lucy Muir is a widow with two young children and not much money, who rents a house by the sea that is remarkably cheap, mostly because it comes with the ghost of a bad-tempered sea captain, who has driven out all the previous occupants. Mrs. Muir, however, is made of stern stuff and her relationship with the captain makes for one of the oddest, but still utterly captivating, love stories

How can you not love this sweet love story about a lonely widow who finds her new home haunted by the ghost of a crotchety but handsome sea captain? What begins as simple companionship between two lonely souls blossoms into feelings neither of these star-crossed lovers may act upon. But the widow Muir is irrevocably changed by their haunted romance. First published in 1945, this book was stunningly original for its time, and is probably responsible for implanting the idea in my head that ghosts are still perfectly capable of falling in love.