About the Author

Judith Claire Mitchell, author of ‘The Last Day of the War’, is an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing. A graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, she currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband, the artist Don Friedlich.

Reviews

‘Had me devouring the pages … A story that’s tragic, touching and – against all odds – strangely uplifting’ Stylist Magazine, 5 Stars ‘One of the sharpest, tartest, flat-out funniest books you're likely to read any time soon… A master-class in tragi-comedy’ Hepzibah Anderson, Jewish Chronicle ‘A triumphant, beautiful, and devastating novel about coincidences, family, and the sins of our fathers’ Anthony Doerr, author of All The Light We Cannot See ‘My favourite novel of the year … This mordantly funny story of the Alter sisters is a literary mash-up of The Virgin Suicides and Grey Gardens. I wouldn't be surprised if Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola are slugging it out for the film rights already.’ Sam Baker, Harpers Bazaar, Books of 2015 ‘A book about suicide, written by three damaged characters hell-bent on self-destruction? It may not sound a barrel of laughs, but this is not only poignant and moving, but genuinely funny — with the humour ranging from the darkest comedy to some superbly silly puns’ Daily Mail ‘A Reunion of Ghosts is a very funny book but it is also tender, sombre and thought-provoking’ Financial Times ‘Mitchell's masterful family saga is as funny as it is aching … For the Alters, life has been a seemingly endless series of tragedies; for us, the tragedy is that this stunning novel inevitably comes to an end’ Kirkus, starred review ‘This original tale is black comedy at its best’ People ‘The Alter sisters are mordant, wry and crystalline in wit and vision; it is a tremendous pleasure to rocket through generations of their family histories with them’ Lauren Groff, author of Arcadia ‘A rich portrait of a complicated family, at turns violent and hilarious, shot through with love and death and the scars that reappear generation after generation’ Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers ‘Dark but comedic, A Reunion of Ghosts is the portrait of four generations of a complicated family’ Buzzfeed, ‘The Most Exciting New Books of 2015’