Grief and magic realism entangle in this debut novel by Ililiw/Cree author Mills. Like the other women of her family, Shelley is able to see ghosts and catch them in her long hair. Her grandmother has turned this ability into a side business, and sometimes Shelley is allowed to tag along and help. Despite her mother's complaints that Grandma is painting herself as the stereotypical image of the kooky Indigenous woman and that Shelley needs to make living friends, Shelley loves meeting ghosts and helping them move on. However, when her mother is killed in a car accident, Shelley's ghostly interactions take an unhealthy turn. She finds comfort in the presence of lingering spirits and, throwing Grandma's rules and ethics to the wind, begins bringing ghosts home with her, all the while searching for her mother's ghost. Mills explores the confusion and anger loss can bring, as well as the difficulties of being different in middle school. It's a quiet, contemplative read with ghost cats, unanswered questions, and human connections that converge in a hopeful ending.

When people need to rid their homes of pesky ghosts, Shelly is right by her Ililiw/Cree grandmother's side to learn how to help the lingering spirits of the dead get to the other side.Once she and her grandmother identify a ghost, whether of a person, a pet, or even household vermin, they allow it to attach itself to their hair before releasing it to dissipate from the earthly plane. Though this ability is matrilineal, Shelly's mother objects to her daughter's taking up the practice; she'd rather Shelly not spend so much time with the dead. When a sudden loss hits the family, Shelly sinks into a depression, spending time in the graveyard with her ghostly friends and desperately seeking to reconcile her grief. Mills (who's of Ililiw/Cree and settler descent) mentions Shelly's First Nations heritage at the outset and includes brief references to the ceremonial use of burning sweet grass, but that heritage is very much just a backdrop to the story. Most of the living people Shelly encounters, as well as the ghosts in the graveyard that she befriends, are not Indigenous, and the story centers on the ghost-hunting business and Shelly's grief rather than exploring death as it relates to Cree culture. But that cultural identity raises questions. When Shelly's grandmother gives music-loving ghost Joseph a new cassette tape, for instance, is she interacting with the dead teenager within a Cree paradigm or a mainstream paranormal one? Readers can only speculate.
Unclear cultural connections muddy the waters of this original paranormal tale. (Paranormal fiction. 10-14)