The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World

If the dead people of Chicago make it safely to Lake Michigan, they’re ferried across to the afterlife. However, many of the dead are abducted by hungry spirits roaming the streets, despite the efforts of a pack of canine bodyguards. Each night, the dogs try to protect and guide the city’s ghosts to the safety of a magical lighthouse on the shore of Lake Michigan. The human ferryman’s strength is waning, though, causing the light to flicker. The ferryman plans to train his daughter Nera as successor, but this is complicated by a living woman named Charlie, who is infiltrating his safe haven for the dead. He worries that Charlie’s quest to find her sister’s spirit and her growing fondness for Nera may endanger all of Chicago’s people—both living and dead. Dawson’s (The First Bright Thing) novel is moving and tense but also infused with explorations of both sides of death—fear of what happens after and the crushing grief of those left behind. Even as the characters explore fear and hope in the afterlife, Charlie and her family struggle to find purpose in surviving with sorrow.