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.
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.
'This novel is a beautiful tale of love, family and identity... The author masterfully creates a tale spanning multiple generations, with revelations that will leave readers truly gripped.' - Inis Magazine
'Songs for Ghosts is a thing of beauty, of echoes and of memory. A novel to break the heart wide open.' - Patricia Forde, Ireland’s Children’s Laureate
Praise for Catfish Rolling:
'Excellent, evocative and thoughtful with genuine depth... I feel as if I'm in the hands of a writer who knows what she's doing.' - Nicola Yoon, bestselling author of Everything, Everything
Author
About Clara Kumagai
Clara Kumagai is from Canada, Japan and Ireland. Her fiction and non-fiction for children and adults has been published in The Stinging Fly, the Irish Times, Banshee, Room, the Kyoto Journal and Cicada, among others. She is a recipient of a We Need Diverse Books Mentorship, and was a finalist for the 2020 Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award. Catfish Rolling is her debut novel.
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