When the owner of Toronto Haunted Ghost Tours arrives at Winterson Cemetery to investigate two reports of paranormal activity, Winifred, who is Métis and lives on the grounds with her distant, grieving father, sees an opportunity. Her father is at risk of losing his job at the failing crematory; moving out would mean leaving not only their home, but also the ashes of Win’s late mother, who died during childbirth, behind. Win knows the reported “sightings” are not real—both times it had been she who was spotted among the gravestones—but recently she has been visited by the actual ghost of an Indigenous teen girl, Phil, who died in a ravine next to the cemetery. Hoping to summon Phil while a tour group visits Winterson, Win reluctantly ropes her caustic, money-grubbing cousin, Penny, into helping with her scheme. As Win and Phil get to know each other, though, and even begin to fall in love, the story of Phil’s tragic death slowly unfolds. Win begins to regret her decision to exploit Phil’s death for profit and tells Penny she’s changed her mind. But Penny is motivated by more than just money; painful family dynamics and past humiliations have bred her desire to hurt her cousin. Heavier themes—how and when to let go of a lost loved one, the pervasive violence against Indigenous girls and women—are deftly balanced by warmth, humor, and familial and romantic love in this exquisitely written novel. (Age 14 and older)

After inadvertently starting rumors of a haunted cemetery, a teen befriends a ghost in this brand-new young adult novel exploring grief and belonging by the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves series.

Winifred has lived in the apartment above the cemetery office with her father, who works in the crematorium, all her life, close to her mother's grave. With her sixteenth birthday only days away, Winifred has settled into a lazy summer schedule, lugging her obese Chihuahua around the grounds in a squeaky red wagon to visit the neglected gravesides and nursing a serious crush on her best friend, Jack.

Her habit of wandering the graveyard at all hours has started a rumor that Winterson Cemetery might be haunted. It’s welcome news since the crematorium is on the verge of closure and her father’s job is being outsourced. Now that the ghost tours have started, Winifred just might be able to save her father’s job and the only home she’s ever known, not to mention being able to stay close to where her mother is buried. All she has to do is get help from her con-artist cousin to keep up the rouse and somehow manage to stop her father from believing his wife has returned from the grave. But when Phil, an actual ghost of a teen girl who lived and died in the ravine next to the cemetery, starts showing up, Winifred begins to question everything she believes about life, love and death. Especially love.