"Abel and Vera Paisley are a working-class Jamaican couple striving to build a better life for their children. Abel travels to London in the early 1960s in search of fortune. Instead, he sees an opportunity to escape the drudgery of his life by faking his death and assuming a new identity. Vera, now a widow, is racked with guilt over her husband's 'death' and takes out her grief on her children, Irene and Vincent. The effects of Abel's decision reverberate across generations: ghosts follows the Paisleys over time and across continents as they wrestle with the burdens of family lore and struggle to forge independent identities"--Provided by publisher.