Lily Corcoran is a 40-year-old researcher at the University of Wisconsin whose pursuit of her Ph.D. in neuroscience has long been waylaid by the work of parenting her 10-year-old daughter, Rosie. This task has now been made more difficult by the fact that Lily and her husband have recently separated. One wine-soaked night, as Lily battles loneliness in her quiet house, she’s startled by the arrival of her mother, who doesn’t seem to have aged a day in 30 years. In the 1980s, her mom, Patty Rose, left a holiday party early and died in a car accident on the way home. So, the question is obvious: How could she be here now? Over the next few weeks, Lily adjusts to life with her mother’s apparition, including the smell of her 1980s hair spray, her attachment to shoulder pads, and her heavenly home cooking. Disguising her mom as her long-lost “Cousin Trish,” they both attend holiday gatherings, repaint Rosie’s room, and even go shopping at Target. But as Lily finds out, life with a ghost can be challenging: Patty bursts into flames when she’s angry and becomes transparent when she’s nervous. Her mother’s advice ranges from the dated (she pressures Lily to wear a push-up bra to win back her husband) to the genuinely caring (suggesting Lily cut back on candy and booze). But as happy as Lily is to have a second chance with her mother, she can’t help resenting her, too. Then, one disastrous night changes everything between them: Lily realizes that she and Patty are more alike than she’s ever realized. Keller’s writing is bright and witty, and the speculative details of the haunting are entertaining. Although the side characters are a bit flat, and some conclusions feel too tidy, the story remains somehow impressively grounded. The novel’s greatest success, however, comes from its depiction of the tender relationship between a daughter and the mother she lost too soon.