Ghosts of Harvard Audiobook By Francesca Serritella cover art

Ghosts of Harvard

A Novel

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Ghosts of Harvard

By: Francesca Serritella
Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.50

Buy for $22.50

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Teen Vogue Book Club Pick

A Harvard freshman becomes obsessed with her schizophrenic brother’s suicide. Then she starts hearing voices.

"A rich, intricately plotted thriller.... Serritella, who is a Harvard grad herself, writes about the campus with an insider’s savvy.” (Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post)

"Every time I thought I knew where Ghosts of Harvard was heading, I turned out to be wrong. Part mystery, part ghost story, part psychological thriller, this novel is all entertainment." (Jodi Picoult, number one New York Times best-selling author)

Cadence Archer arrives on Harvard’s campus desperate to understand why her brother, Eric, a genius who developed paranoid schizophrenia, took his own life there the year before. Losing Eric has left a black hole in Cady’s life, and while her decision to follow in her brother’s footsteps threatens to break her family apart, she is haunted by questions of what she might have missed. And there’s only one place to find answers.

As Cady struggles under the enormous pressure at Harvard, she investigates her brother’s final year, armed only with a blue notebook of Eric’s cryptic scribblings. She knew he had been struggling with paranoia, delusions, and illusory enemies - but what tipped him over the edge? Voices fill her head, seemingly belonging to three ghosts who passed through the university in life, or death, and whose voices, dreams, and terrors still echo the halls. Among them is a person whose name has been buried for centuries, and another whose name mankind will never forget.

Does she share Eric’s illness, or is she tapping into something else? Cady doesn’t know how or why these ghosts are contacting her, but as she is drawn deeper into their worlds, she believes they’re moving her closer to the truth about Eric, even as keeping them secret isolates her further. Will listening to these voices lead her to the one voice she craves - her brother’s - or will she follow them down a path to her own destruction?

©2020 Francesca Serritella (P)2020 Random House Audio
Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Haunted Ghost Exciting Mystery

Critic reviews

"Ghosts of Harvard is written with a masterly, focused hand, belying the fact that this is Serritella’s debut novel. The pages burn with frenetic energy and are peopled by memorable, compelling characters. The tension is palatable, the twists and surprises perfectly timed and the stakes as high as humans should be asked to endure. The end result, a novel you will long remember and characters you will want to see again. A triumph in every respect." (David Baldacci, number one New York Times best-selling author)

"Wow, what a lively, compelling, and intoxicating debut. Ghosts of Harvard is so many things - a rumination on grief, a glimpse behind the ivory walls of a famous institution, a poignant look at mental illness, and a powerful story about the ghosts that haunt us all. Francesca Serritella is my new ‘go-to’ author." (Harlan Coben, number one New York Times best-selling author)

"Ghosts of Harvard is a wrenchingly beautiful book. With immense heart and unwavering empathy, Francesca Serritella explores the legacy of loss and the mystery of family. It’s one of those rare novels that spirits you to a deeper understanding of your own life, one of those stories whose voice you’ll continue to hear long after you’ve turned the last page." (Bret Anthony Johnston, internationally best-selling author of Remember Me Like This)

What listeners say about Ghosts of Harvard

Highly rated for:

Engaging Storyline Intriguing Plot Twists Great Narration Compelling Mysteries Excellent Voice Range
Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    195
  • 4 Stars
    107
  • 3 Stars
    61
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    9
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    230
  • 4 Stars
    53
  • 3 Stars
    30
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    170
  • 4 Stars
    72
  • 3 Stars
    53
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    9

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent first novel!

This engaging novel has something for everyone- family secrets, history, ghosts, and love. And a few other things I won’t mention (because I don’t want to spoil it)! This is a fantastic book written by a talented young writer.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow! A compelling story right up to the end!!!

I highly recommend this book! Lots of surprises and a very satisfying read. I loved the author's notes at the end too!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous book

This was one of most enjoyable books I have ever read (actually listened to). Karissa Vacker was simply superb in the reading of the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I couldn’t put it down

Didn’t know what to expect. But it is an interestingly woven story of family struggles, loyalty and forgiveness. Combined with mystery and self discovery.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

narration is perfect

To enjoy “Ghosts of Harvard” by Francesca Serritella, one must have an interest in spirits aka ghosts. I was a huge fan of the TV series “Ghost Whisperer” and this is in the same vein. Basically, it’s not realistic fiction; beyond the ghost factor, we have a plucky Harvard Freshman who sleuths her way, by ignoring classes and classwork. Perhaps the setting should have been a third-rate university. However, there is a reason that author Serritella chose Harvard to tell her tale, and she provides that information in her Author’s Note.

Basically, Cady, our intrepid protagonist, enrolls in Harvard to find out why her beloved schizophrenic brother, Eric, killed himself. Eric was a genius but was a noncompliant patient with a history of going off his medications. Cady is determined to discover what led Eric to commit suicide.

While on her quest, Cady begins to hear voices in her mind. These voices are spirits who are trapped in Harvard. Each spirit either went to school at Harvard or worked there. Serritella has political reasons to use her spirits.

In a short period, Cady unravels some secrets of her brother. She follows clues she unearthed. It’s preposterous that Cady accomplished all that she did in about a month’s time, while still attending school. Again, it’s not realistic fiction.

What Serritella does well is show how mental illness impacts a family. Add suicide to that illness, and families fall apart. Also, I’m a huge fan of Author’s Notes and she does a great job explaining her use of the ghosts.

This story is billed as a thriller, which it does build up to be at the last third of the story. There were a couple of obvious clues that Cady missed; however, Serritella threw in a couple of last-minute plot twists that made the read interesting.

It’s a “so-so” read. I cannot say I’d recommend it. I listened to the audio of the story, performed by Karissa Vacker. Vacker is fantastic with her wide range of voices.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing Book!

I could not put this book down! Well, except when I had to. This book is well worth your time and money!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent book. cannot wait for the author's next

loved it. twists in.plots compelling. excellent characters. all around great book. looking forward to this author's next book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Very good- before it was done I was looking to see if there is a next book 📚

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

this book could have been a lot better.

the actual story was not bad tho far fetched. still why the ghosts? I think this book could be better with out them.

also the way everything came together at the end was too much.

but I did enjoy the book enough to read the entire story. I will not read it again tho.

kadie was obscessed (not bad or not good) with her brother's death but I really did not know much else about her.

it was way too long.

the reader was great!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bravo!

This was an excellent read with well-developed characters. The author did a remarkable job weaving past and present with extraordinary attention to detail. The narration was also outstanding. I highly recommend this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!