PATRICK DIED

Cathy Passmore meets Patrick Faltynski in the secondgrade of their community s Catholic school. Theybecome close friends and confidantes as they navigategrowing up. Then Patrick develops headaches and a sensitivityto sunlight. He is diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancerand dies at fourteen years old leaving Cathy to grieve. Years after Patrick s death, Cathy marries, and while awaitingthe birth of her second child, Patrick appears to her one night asshe is dozing off to sleep. As he sits on her bed with his boyishgrin, she can see him clearly. He says, Come play with me, andafter a few minutes, disappears. Startled and frightened by thereality of the experience, Cathy attempts to make sense of thevisit, while Patrick continues to periodically appear to her andspend time with her. With Patrick in tow, she seeks advice froma physician, an elderly parish priest, and one of the doctors whotreated Patrick while he was ill. She discovers certain individualscan also see him. Together, Cathy and Patrick take a journeythat she could never have imagined. In this novel, a woman encounters the ghost of a boy she knewin childhood, and the experience changes her life forever.