Get Lit' Preview: Tom Perrotta's New Novel 'Ghost Town'

In this preview episode of All of It, host Alison Stewart introduces Tom Perrotta's new novel *Ghost Town*, the May Get Lit Book Club selection. Set in a fictional 1970s suburban New Jersey town called Creamwood, the story follows Jimmy Perini, an eighth grader grappling with the sudden death of his mother. Left to navigate grief without guidance, Jimmy forms a bond with two outsiders—Eddie, a stoner, and Olivia, a grieving high school valedictorian—leading him to experiment with a Ouija board as a way to connect with the unseen. The narrative alternates between Jimmy’s summer of loss and his adult life as Jay Perry, a successful writer who returns to his hometown to confront the past. Perrotta reflects on how the pandemic prompted him to revisit his childhood home, sparking the novel’s themes of memory, trauma, and the ghostly presence of the past. The episode highlights the emotional authenticity of childhood grief, the liminal space between rationality and belief, and the redemptive power of storytelling. Key takeaways include: 1) Grief in childhood is often unacknowledged and must be navigated in silence; 2) The Ouija board becomes a metaphor for the search for meaning beyond logic; 3) Memory is not a fixed record but a reconstructive act that can lead to healing; 4) Fiction allows writers to explore personal truths through imaginative distance; 5) The act of returning to one’s roots can be both painful and transformative. The episode ends with an invitation to borrow the e-book through the New York Public Library and attend a live event with Perrotta on May 27th.