"Heartbreak, hauntings, love and music — this YA masterwork is infused with Japanese folklore and history as it radiates modern resonance."
March 2025 Book of the Month
Traversing modern America and Japanese folklore, music, myth and history, Clara Kumagai’s Songs for Ghosts weaves a wondrous story of love, loss and longing. Told through the intertwined narratives of a contemporary Japanese-American teenager and a young Japanese woman’s diary written a century ago, it explores universal themes of heartbreak, identity and displacement with subtle power.
The story begins when Adam finds the diary in the attic of the house he shares with his dad, step-mom and little brother Benny. Sore from being dumped by his boyfriend, Adam can’t draw himself away from the diary, not least as its author speaks of loss, the Japanese biwa lute that misses its owner, and being haunted. And then Adam himself feels and sees the presence of ghosts and is compelled to embark on a transformative journey to Nagasaki to discover more about the diary, and himself.
Inspired by Madame Butterfly, Songs for Ghosts sings with potent cultural and historical detail as it tells a story that strikes relatable emotional chords, and lays bare the vital power of retelling tales and remembering real events that echo through time.
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From Catfish Rolling's Clara Kumagai, a second novel full of longing, love and heartbreak, inspired by Puccini's Madame Butterfly.
Turn the page, strike a chord.
There are restless ghosts to be appeased...
When Japanese-American teenager, Adam, discovers a diary in his attic, he is enthralled by its account of a young Japanese woman's life. A hundred years separate them yet she, like Adam, is caught between cultures, relationships and heartbreak.
She also writes of the ghosts that have begun to seek her out, which Adam dismisses as fantasy - until he too, begins to be haunted. It leads him to Nagasaki, trying to solve the mystery of the diary, and his own identity.
And the ghosts gather...
A supernatural tale steeped in Japanese history, folklore, culture, music, myth and legend with a LGBTQ+ lead character.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Songs for Ghosts and determined it is suitable for children aged 13-18 years old
Songs for Ghosts features in the following genres: Featured Books for 13+ readers, Featured Books for Young Adults, Books of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, Historical Fiction, Horror & Ghost Stories, Romance / Relationship Stories, PSHE: Self-Awareness, Self-Esteem and Wellbeing, Personal Social Health Economic (PSHE), Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Romance and love stories, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Relating to LGBTQ+ people, Relating to specific groups and cultures or social and cultural interests, Interest qualifiers
Songs for Ghosts is available in Paperback, Hardback
Songs for Ghosts was written by Clara Kumagai and published by Zephyr an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
Songs for Ghosts has 449 pages
£8.09
