Songs for Ghosts

Author Clara Kumagai

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A YA coming-of-age novel full of longing, love and ghosts from the past, inspired by both Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Japanese history.

Seventeen-year-old Adam has just broken up with his boyfriend Evan and is not looking forward to the excruciating awkwardness at school for the rest of term or a whole summer stuck at home with his dad, stepmom and baby brother, Benji.

But then Adam discovers a diary in some boxes in the attic and is quickly enthralled by their poignant story. They were written by a young woman living in Nagasaki in 1911. Adam is enraptured by her life and loves, becoming totally absorbed in her story. And then he starts to be haunted by her ghostly presence . .…

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$26.99

August 5, 2025

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CLARA KUMAGAI is from Canada, Japan and Ireland. The recipient of a We Need Diverse Books Award Mentorship, Clara was also a finalist for the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award, a Yoto Carnegie 2024 nominee and shortlisted for the KPMG Children's Book Ireland Award. Clara has been chosen by The Irish Independent as a Top 20 Irish Kid's Book of 2023, as well as a Best Book of 2023 by The Irish Times, the Observer and Waterstones. She is the author of Catfish Rolling.