About The Book

From the internationally bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep comes a funny, poignant, and “engaging mystery…a perfect book for today’s world” (Sarah Winman, author of Still Life) about a woman who encounters the ghosts of her past as she untangles the truth behind her daughter’s disappearance.

Margaret thinks her time is up...

Things have been hard since her husband Derek died, and they never got over the disappearance of their daughter, Jeanie, all those years ago. With his support, it seemed like everything would be okay—okay enough, that is.

But now Derek’s gone. Margaret moves through the days slowly, quietly, alone. Then one day, Margaret returns home to an unlikely visi­tor, and together they set out to discover what really happened to Jeanie. Perhaps if she knocks on enough doors, she might find another end to the story.

Part mystery, part ghost story, part meditation on grief, An Unlikely Visitor is a “moving, funny, compassionate, and wise” (Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie) reminder that the people we love are always with us.

About The Author

Photograph by Philippa Gedge

Joanna Cannon graduated from medical school and worked as a hospital doctor before specializing in psychiatry. She is also the author of A Tidy EndingThree Things About Elsie, and The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, a top ten bestseller in the UK. She lives in England’s Peak District with her dog, Lewis.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Scribner (October 20, 2026)
  • Length: 320 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781668232187

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Raves and Reviews

“Joanna Cannon is a compassionate storyteller who writes about the big things with a lightness of touch. An Unlikely Visitor is an engaging mystery, magical and humane as it slowly unfurls – a perfect book for today’s world.” —Sarah Winman, author of Still Life
 
“Brimming with Jo's trademark compassion, insight and wry humour, An Unlikely Visitor is both a meditation on a grief, a mystery of a missing child and a powerful exploration of the human condition. Jo writes so beautifully about human frailties and her kindness illuminates every sentence. A treat of a novel.” —Hannah Beckerman, author of If Only I Could Tell You
 
“Moving, funny, compassionate and wise, An Unlikely Visitor is an astonishing achievement. Joanna Cannon is an exquisite observer of human nature. Her stories are not so much told as felt by the soul. An Unlikely Visitor made me laugh, cry and left me filled with hope.” —Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie

“A novel that appears to be telling Margaret and Derek’s poignant story becomes, in Joanna Cannon’s gifted hands, a profound reflection on the human condition, and therein lie the joy and the magic… We are left marvelling at how extraordinary ordinary people can be, and what a wonder it is to live and love at all.” —Joanna Glen, author of All My Mothers

“Joanna Cannon beautifully examines each tragic, surprising, shocking and precious moment of ordinary life. An extraordinary book, I loved it.” —Fern Britton, author of A Cornish Legacy

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