Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

Spring 4-2-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

April 2026

Department

English

College Granting Degree

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Department Granting Degree

English

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Ayşe Papatya Bucak

Abstract

When Eimy returns home for the first time in years to bury her mother, she expects awkward condolences, a quick exit, and the relief of distance. What she doesn’t expect is for her mother’s ghost to interrupt the funeral, lingering at the edges of the ceremony.

Suddenly thrust into an unwanted reunion, Eimy must confront the woman she spent a lifetime attempting to forget. As the boundaries between memory and haunting blur, Eimy is forced to piece together who her mother really was—and why her spirit refuses to let go.

Told through intertwining timelines, the novel explores the fraught inheritance of family: how love and resentment can coexist, how the dead continue shaping us long after they’re gone, and what it means to grieve someone you never truly knew yet can never fully escape.

Available for download on Wednesday, April 12, 2226

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