This YA book features a family of three children aged 16, 12, and 8, who wind up living with a very elderly gentleman in his funeral home. The narrator is 16 year old Callie Valentine who has been responsible for taking care of her siblings as her mother fell further into drugs. This young woman isn't a magically together, super-smart girl who has been a terrific provider while navigating around her mother; she attempts to steal (poorly) and has no idea what to do when the trio is evicted from their apartment.

Luck and magic come together in the form of Victor Delamorte, an elderly mortician, who offers the children temporary employment and eventual permanent shelter in his home above his mortuary. His gentle care and guidance finally give these children an adult to rely upon and teach them how to care for themselves as a family. The magic is in the form of funeral home beautician, Lucy, and the shadowy ghosts that Callie can see as well as the mystical burial casket hidden in a roomful of treasures. Magic, belief, and love intersect in the resolution of the book when the children care for Victor in his final days and then embark on a quest to fulfill his last wishes.

Victor's last days are a very realistic portrayal of someone dying at home with loved ones caring for them. It's a pretty big surprise for a YA title, yet that's one of the joys of a YA novel - exploring events that are terrible and beautiful and emotional before encountering them in adult life. There's just enough magic and mystery to help Callie make the leap into finally trusting first one adult, and then finally others.

Thank you Lurking Lucy Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.