Ghost Songs

A searingly beautiful coming-of-age memoir about a girl who begins to see her parents' ghosts after their tragic deaths. An Oprah.com Editor's Pick and a Paris Review Staff Pick Eighteen-year-old Regina McBride is haunted by the ghosts of her parents. Her father visits her—he is desperate, but she doesn’t know how to help him. Her mother is a quiet figure, obscured by light—a flash at the foot of the bed. Regina, raised Irish Catholic and with the ironclad belief that some sins are unforgivable, fears her parents are trapped between worlds, forever punished after they committed suicide within a few months of each other. Terrorized by these visitations and flattened by grief, Regina slowly begins her hazardous journey to recovery. Lyrical and lovely, harrowing and haunting, Ghost Songs charts her struggle to separate madness from imagination and sorrow from devastation. From New York to the desert of New Mexico to the shores of Ireland, Regina searches for herself, her home, and a way to return to the family that remains. Ghost Songs is an exploration of memory, a meditation on love and loss, and, in the end, a celebration of life and the living.

A searingly beautiful coming-of-age memoir about a girl who begins to see her parents' ghosts after their tragic deaths. An Oprah.com Editor's Pick and a Paris Review Staff Pick Eighteen-year-old Regina McBride is haunted by the ghosts of her parents. Her father visits her—he is desperate, but she doesn’t know how to help him. Her mother is a quiet figure, obscured by light—a flash at the foot of the bed. Regina, raised Irish Catholic and with the ironclad belief that some sins are unforgivable, fears her parents are trapped between worlds, forever punished after they committed suicide within a few months of each other. Terrorized by these visitations and flattened by grief, Regina slowly begins her hazardous journey to recovery. Lyrical and lovely, harrowing and haunting, Ghost Songs charts her struggle to separate madness from imagination and sorrow from devastation. From New York to the desert of New Mexico to the shores of Ireland, Regina searches for herself, her home, and a way to return to the family that remains. Ghost Songs is an exploration of memory, a meditation on love and loss, and, in the end, a celebration of life and the living.

A fire engulfs the stage. Dead Dogs Howl guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, Erik Devon survives, but scarred, his voice destroyed, his memory in shards. Presumed dead, he is blamed for the deaths of band members and crew. Forced into hiding, a ghost of his former self, Devon watches other musicians perform at his club. Then, one day, he hears her voice. Cara Friday pays homage to her dead idol by emulating Devon’s style and performing his music. Discovered by the manager of Dead Dogs Howl, Cara is groomed to keep Devon’s career alive, singing only his songs. How long will Devon’s ghost haunt her? How long can she be his voice without losing her own? But someone is watching over Cara Friday’s career. Someone in the shadows waits and listens. GHOST SONG adapts the tragic story of the Phantom of the Opera and brings it into the world of contemporary rock.

A once-glittering music hall now hides dark mysteries in this atmospheric thriller set in both present day and Edwardian London. A hundred years ago, the Tarleton Music Hall on London's south bank was one of the city's most popular attractions. People lined up night after night to see its headliner, the legendary song-and-dance man Toby Chance. But that was before Toby disappeared in 1914. People were shocked to see the Tarleton suddenly locked up. But that’s how it’s been ever since. Today, with property prices soaring, an investment group hires Robert Fallon to survey the place. Fallon is as charmed by the project, especially when he hears the rumors of a Singing Ghost who haunts the building. But he must admit that something is indeed odd about the Tarleton. What, for instance, can be made of the mysterious wall in the basement? Fallon delves into the Tarleton’s history, and learns the story of the brilliant but troubled Toby Chance. But the deeper he goes, the harder it is to shake the feeling that he is being menaced by the past.

Sawkill Girls meets The Hazel Wood in this lush and eerie debut, where the boundary between reality and nightmares is as thin as the veil between the living and the dead. If I could have a fiddle made of Daddy’s bones, I’d play it. I’d learn all the secrets he kept. Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness. But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets. In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing. Family secrets, a gorgeously resonant LGBTQ love triangle, and just the right amount of creepiness make this young adult debut a haunting and hopeful story about facing everything that haunts us in the dark.

Ghosts make great friends for life (and beyond)! If you're lucky enough to have a ghost find you, you'll need to know how to treat it right. Open up this "how-to" guide to discover how to be the best friend a ghost could ever ask for! What do you do when you meet a ghost? One: Provide the ghost with some of its favorite snacks, like mud tarts and earwax truffles. Two: Tell your ghost bedtime stories (ghosts love to be read to). Three: Make sure no one mistakes your ghost for whipped cream or a marshmallow when you aren't looking! If you follow these few simple steps and the rest of the essential tips in How to Make Friends with a Ghost, you'll see how a ghost friend will lovingly grow up and grow old with you. A whimsical story about ghost care, Rebecca Green's debut picture book is a perfect combination of offbeat humor, quirky and sweet illustrations, and the timeless theme of friendship.

A family curse can reach across generations. After bank manager Jonathan Ward inherits an old manor, strange things begin to happen. On his first night at the property, a beautiful young woman appears outside his door, pleading for help. Moments later, she has disappeared. Strange apparitions and unearthly sounds follow, as does the young woman seeking refuge. Desperate for information, Jonathan turns to the vast knowledge of the town librarian for help. As the dark history of the manor unfolds, Jonathan begins to realize the full extent of the horror to come. Is it too late to save those dearest to him... and himself?

This “novel of extraordinary humanity” (Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing) from New York Times bestselling author Vaddey Ratner reveals “the endless ways that families can be forged and broken hearts held” (Chicago Tribune) as a young woman begins an odyssey to discover the truth about her missing father. Leaving the safety of America, Teera returns to Cambodia for the first time since her harrowing escape as a child refugee. She carries a letter from a man who mysteriously signs himself as “the Old Musician” and claims to have known her father in the Khmer Rouge prison where he disappeared twenty-five years ago. In Phnom Penh, Teera finds a society still in turmoil, where perpetrators and survivors of unfathomable violence live side by side, striving to mend their still beloved country. She meets a young doctor who begins to open her heart, confronts her long-buried memories, and prepares to learn her father’s fate. Meanwhile, the Old Musician, who earns his modest keep playing ceremonial music at a temple, awaits Teera’s visit. He will have to confess the bonds he shared with her parents, the passion with which they all embraced the Khmer Rouge’s illusory promise of a democratic society, and the truth about her father’s end. A love story for things lost and restored, a lyrical hymn to the power of forgiveness, Music of the Ghosts is a “sensitive portrait of the inheritance of survival” (USA TODAY) and a journey through the embattled geography of the heart where love can be reborn.