'Witty, moving and eminently readable, Nearly Departed is the millennial Truly Madly Deeply we've all been waiting for' Mike Gayle Joel Foster is a hapless twenty-something. His girlfriend, Beth Lewis, would likely have been a hapless twenty-something, too, had she not been obliterated by a very large cement truck. Some time after Beth's tragic death, Joel is still trying to juggle grief with the world of modern dating. And while he still feels like a widower, he has to find a new love before three years is up. The catch? Just as Joel thinks he's finally falling for someone, he starts getting haunted by Beth. It's not a ghost story, it's a love story. With ghosts.