Puccini's Ghosts - Softcover

'The story of Lila's getting-of-wisdom is powerfully told, bristling with tension and horribly funny.' -- Kate Saunders, The Times 'Morag Joss's contribution to the coming-of-age genre is remarkable in its astuteness, humour and eloquence ... mesmerising' -- Katie Gould, Scotland on Sunday 'A gripping and beautifully composed novel. It is both darkly hilarious and deeply moving' -- Herald 'She is excellent at portraying a child's loss of innocence and the desperation of those who find themselves trapped in a small Scottish town. It will be very interesting to see what she does next.' -- Scotsman 'Joss writes with a vividness that captures exactly particular moods and atmospheres. The darkness of her main themes, the sense of impending catastrophe that hangs over the story, is relieved by a lightness of touch - and the combined result is a very fine novel indeed.' -- Ron Butlin, Sunday Herald 'Joss uses a subtle but effective split narrative to contrast the life of the 15-year-old Lila with that of the fading, ageing Lila, returned home to bury her father. Disillusionment, bereavement, bitterness and betrayal run through the novel... Joss is at her best when describing places through the eyes of teenage Lila... The agony and ecstacy of a teenage crush are conveyed with poignant accuracy... Well-observed and blackly funny, the novel gathers pace towards a shocking finale.' -- Herald 'Sharply observed, funny and dark, Puccini's Ghosts offers a memorable account of the agonies of adolescence, and of the all too tenuous relationship between art and life.' -- The Times 'With a perfect narrative that effortlessly alternates between past and present, Joss's awesome talent shines. She doesn't waste a single word in delivering one of the best books from a Scottish author this year.' -- Daily Record

It is the summer of 1960 and fifteen-year-old Lila's life is about to change forever. Set free from the confines of school, her new prison is the small unremarkable town of Burnhead, on the west coast of Scotland. She dreams of escape: from Burnhead, from the damp, from her mother's hysterics, her father's stolidity, and her parents' loveless marriage. Salvation arrives in the form of her beloved Uncle George, a music teacher from London who decides to stage an amateur production of Puccini's Turandot. Lila, in love for the first time, maps out a future for herself in which reality and fantasy fuse to form a dangerous mixture, threatening to destroy herself and all those around her.