This Is Not a Ghost Story: A Novel

A beautiful and subversive take on the afterlife, as razorsharp as it is deeply moving. Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong MoyGrammynominated singersongwriter Ameries dazzling, satirical adult debut tells the story of a Black man who walks into the lightto find himself in Los Angeles, where he becomes an instant celebrity for being the first visible and verifiable ghost.Johns House provides all he needs. Surrounded by a vast, beautiful ocean under a void of sky, the House is Johns haven. He is alone, but never lonely; he is here now, but neither remembers nor longs for a before. In his House, John is safe and untroubled.But then a terrible shadow creature breaks inand it wants him out. Pushed from the House, John falls into the lightAnd finds himself in modernday Los Angeles, the first person to ever come back from the other side. Though he has no memory of his past life, or even how he died, everyone wants to know more about the Black man who has returned from the deadis he the second coming? A hoax? Or something beyond explanation? Soon he has brand deals, TV interviews, and politicians aiming to use him for their agendas, yet all John wants is to go home.But going home will require, most unfortunately, help. In search of a way back, John grudgingly joins forces with a mystic holding dubious qualifications, a hardedged publicist bent on making him famous, and an aspiring actress who is unsettlingly familiar. With this ragtag band of allies, John begins a journey to find his House on the oceanbut getting there will prove more complicated than he imagined, for it will require not only trusting in someone other than himself, but will mean uncovering painful truths about who John was in life and, perhaps most difficult, who he must become.A gorgeous, tender story of hope, sacrifice, and what it means to be human, This Is Not a Ghost Story introduces an astonishing new voice in literary fiction.