The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Alderton, Dolly. Ghosts. Penguin Books, 2020.

Dolly Alderton’s first-person narrative, Ghosts, follows the life of Nina Dean as she navigates turning thirty-two, online dating, and her father’s degenerative illness. At the outset of the novel, on the narrator’s birthday, Nina downloaded a dating app for the first time. She was enamored by the ease it provided for finding romance and was excited for her first date with Max. Her single friend, Lola, guided her through the etiquette of online dating. At the pub, she met up with Max in person for the first time and admired his rugged handsomeness and confidence. They quickly began seeing each other regularly and their relationship became more serious. When she told her friend and ex-boyfriend, Joe, that she was seeing someone, he attempted to conceal his jealousy. Joe was in a serious relationship with Lucy and confided in Nina that he planned to propose; he was excited about the idea of marriage to Lucy though he had never entertained the idea when he and Nina were dating. During a date in Albyn Square, where Nina grew up, Max told her that he loved her.

Shortly after Max’s profession of love, he stopped answering the narrator’s calls and text messages. Nina attempted to remind herself that she had not fabricated their relationship. At Lucy’s hen do, she and Lola were the only single women invited. They struggled to reconcile their single lives with the women who touted their marriages and advised them to not scare men off. While Lola was a blatant feminist, she still wanted a marriage and traditional family. Nina attempted to reconcile her own desire for partnership with her feminist beliefs. She was unsure how independence and female autonomy could coexist in a dating scene that exalted patriarchal ideals of heteronormative relationships and womanhood. As her father’s illness progressed Nina became increasingly afraid that he would disappear from her life. She saw his memory fade and become increasingly disjointed. On his seventy-seventh birthday, he repeatedly asked for his mother and cut his hand while attempting to open a tin with a knife. That evening Nina was late for drinks with Katherine. When her friend chided her for being inconsiderate, she decided to confront her. Katherine had become increasingly distant and pedantic in the previous years; their friendship felt like an obligation instead of a system of support. When Nina returned home, Max was waiting on her doorstep.

When the narrator allowed Max back into her life, he promised that he would not disappear again. Nina asked him to be open about his emotions instead of running away and gaslighting her. After several months of seeing each other, Max ghosted her again. Meanwhile, Lola had started a serious relationship with a man named Jethro. She was delighted to finally be in a serious relationship and told Nina that they planned on buying a flat together. Shortly after, Jethro ghosted Lola. The friends commiserated about the patriarchal traditions that allowed men to act like children while ensuring that they would always find love; aging did not factor into their relationships. Later, Katherine showed up at Nina’s apartment and apologized for her previous insensitivity; she felt lost in her life as a mother and had attempted to hide her fears and insecurities instead of confiding in Nina. After Bill had a fall, Nina and her mother talked openly at the hospital. Nancy admitted that she was afraid of aging and losing her husband. When the women talk, they are able to recalibrate their relationship and form a system of mutual support. On Nina’s thirty-third birthday, her friends and parents joined her for cake in Albyn Park. She knew that she could not plan the next year of her life but was excited for the unseen possibilities and experiences that awaited her.