Ghosted

Ghosted is British novelist Rosie Walsh’s first novel, published in 2018. After a career in television that included extensive travel, Walsh settled in the United Kingdom with her family, and Ghosted is set primarily in Gloucestershire and partially in other parts of England and Los Angeles, California. Released in the UK as The Man Who Didn’t Call and Ghosted in the United States, the novel addresses the phenomenon of “ghosting” in which a potential partner ends a relationship by abruptly ceasing all forms of communication. Ghosted provides a narrative in which the “ghosting” is eventually explained by the reveal of several long-kept secrets. Eddie and Sarah spend a significant week together, and Sarah is certain that they are both deeply in love, until he cuts off all contact. While it eventually becomes clear that Eddie is the brother of Alex, a man who died in a car accident for which Sarah was partially responsible, love and parenthood eventually bring the couple back together. Ghosted explores The Impact of Technology on Romantic Closure, The Search for a Romantic Soulmate, and Fear, Pain, and Love in Parental Relationships as some of its key themes. Ghosted is a romantic thriller that blends several elements of the contemporary romance, crime, and mystery genres.

This guide refers to the 2018 Penguin US edition.

Content Warning: This novel contains descriptions of eating disorders, unsuccessful fertility treatment, and homophobia.

Plot Summary

As a successful nonprofit director who lives in Los Angeles, Sarah Mackey returns to the UK for her annual pilgrimage on the anniversary of a fatal car accident that occurred 19 years earlier. Sarah is surprised to fall in love with Eddie David whom she meets by seeming coincidence near the place where the accident happened. Her 17-year marriage having recently ended, Sarah is using her married name and Eddie has adopted his middle name as a surname. Because of this, and because both individuals obscure painful details of their past from the other, they do not realize each other’s identity: Sarah was responsible for the death of Eddie’s sister, Alex, in the car accident. Narrative details surrounding the accident do not emerge until the plot twist later in the novel, and Walsh initially leads the reader to assume that Sarah’s younger sister, Hannah, is the one who died. Eddie and Sarah spend seven significant days in each other’s company, and both appear to be deeply in love. Sarah only leaves Eddie when he is preparing to go to the airport for a short holiday, but she plans to pick him up from the airport when he returns. The pair plan to discuss what to do about the fact that they live in different countries when they are together again.

Eddie proceeds to “ghost” Sarah. Walsh alternates between epistolary format—including letters from “me” to “you” that originally appear to be from Sarah to Hannah but are actually from Eddie to Alex—and first-person narrative from Sarah’s perspective. The novel progresses initially in a nonlinear manner. Spending time with her close childhood friend Tommy, her friend Jo, and eventually her parents and grandfather, Sarah becomes increasingly upset and desperate about the lack of communication from Eddie. She searches for explanations and feels very out of control compared to her usual confident and competent demeanor. Seemingly ominous details emerge about phone calls that Eddie took during their time together, anonymous calls to Sarah’s phone with a silent individual on the other end, and someone watching her. Sarah attempts to contact Eddie’s friends via Facebook. She eventually follows a Londoner wearing a football kit of a team that she remembers Eddie plays for, but he isn’t at their match.

Sarah returns to LA and tries to forget about Eddie but begins to see him everywhere. Sarah spends time with a close friend, Jenni, who is grieving the failure of the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle that was her last chance to have a baby. Unable to drink since her last night with Jo in England, Sarah eventually learns that she is pregnant but is in denial, both for self-protection and because she cannot imagine telling Jenni.

Meditating on the coincidence of having met Eddie on the anniversary of Alex’s death near the scene of the accident, she eventually realizes who he is and that he is really in LA. They meet in Santa Monica, and Eddie accuses Sarah of killing his sister. The reader learns that Eddie was not responsible for Hannah’s death; instead Sarah caused the death of Eddie’s sister, Alex—Hannah’s best friend. Sarah explains the circumstances of the accident and tells Eddie that Hannah has never forgiven her, and she has never forgiven herself. While Eddie is glad that they spoke, he tells Sarah that it would be better if they didn’t correspond any longer, and that he’ll be going back to England. Sarah doesn’t reveal that she is pregnant. Sarah prepares to tell Jenni about her pregnancy but is surprised to receive a phone call from Hannah. Sarah attempts to cross the highway for quiet without looking into northbound traffic. Part 2 ends as Sarah is about to be hit by a truck.

Part 3 shifts to Eddie’s perspective as he grapples with his obligation to his mother, Carole, who has never stopped hating Sarah, and he attempts to convince himself that leaving Sarah was the right thing to do. Having seen a funeral procession near Sarah’s childhood home, Eddie vacillates between thoughts that she may have returned home for a funeral and worry that she could have been the one who died. Eddie attempts to get over Sarah but remains painfully in love with her. He eventually finds Carole reading a cache of unsent letters that he has been writing to Alex and realizes that Carole has known about Sarah for a long time. Carole has also learned of Sarah’s pregnancy from Hannah, which she eventually reveals to Eddie, six days after Sarah’s due date.

Realizing that he is the father and that he wants to be with Sarah, Eddie rushes to the hospital. His feelings of love and fear enable him to understand what Sarah was feeling when she swerved her car to protect her sister, killing Alex. Sarah delivers a boy via Caesarian section, and the couple are reunited. The novel’s final resolution is a welcome party for the baby, whom they name Alex, on the anniversary of the accident. Carole surprisingly attends and speaks to Sarah for the first time, thanking her for her grandson.