Ghosts is a sharp-eyed, witty book about a 30-something woman who has all the privilege of modern life. Nina Dean has a tiny apartment in London, a job as a successful cookbook author and a circle of great friends.

We meet Nina on her 32nd birthday, when she downloads a dating app, and follow her through what she describes as ‘the strangest year of my life’. In addition to navigating the vagaries of online dating, Nina has other issues to deal with: her father is descending into dementia, putting her relationship with her mother under strain; she is growing apart from her friends who have settled down with husbands and babies; and her ex-boyfriend is about to marry someone else.

Then Nina meets Max on the dating app and life looks up. He is handsome, charming – and too good to be true. Anyone who has been ‘ghosted’ can relate to what befalls Nina and her Only Single Friend, Lola, in their dating experiences.

This is a book very much for women, who will nod along in recognition at the comic anecdotes and Nina’s entertaining observations. But this is also chick-lit with a darker side: Nina’s sadness and confusion at her father’s illness is well drawn. Apart from her father, the men in the book don’t come out well: whether married or single, all appear to be equally selfish, while the women are left to interpret their mixed messages.

Reviewed by Melinda Woledge