Ghosters: a story of lost faith, lost love and redemption

by Eugene Vesey

Frank Walsh is just twelve when he enters a Roman Catholic seminary to fulfil his dream of becoming a missionary priest in Africa.

Nine years later, having lost his faith, he makes an unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide, leaves the seminary and returns home.

With the help of Sally, the girl next door, he recovers from depression and starts to feel 'normal' again, especially sexually. After university, he leaves home - and Sally - to live in London.

There he tries to escape the ghosts of his past and fulfil his dream of being a writer. He meets Marina, a vibrant young Yugoslav girl at the school in Soho where he teaches English, and they fall in love. They plan to marry, but a chance meeting with a ghost from the past threatens to destroy this dream too.

Yet Frank refuses to be beaten, because he still has one dream left ...

394 pages, Paperback

Published December 8, 2016

About the author

Eugene Vesey was born and brought up in an Irish Catholic family in Manchester, where he was educated at Xaverian College. From the age of twelve he continued his education in Roman Catholic seminaries in the English Lake District and the English Midlands, where he studied philosophy and theology. (His novel Ghosters is in part based on his seminary experiences.) Having lost his faith he left the seminary and the church and went on to complete an honours degree in English language and literature at the University of Manchester. He then obtained a PGCE (teaching certificate) from the University of Liverpool. He has spent all his working life in London, where he still lives, teaching EFL (English as a foreign language) in private schools and colleges - schools and colleges which are the setting for much of his fiction. He also taught on English language summer schools for many years in Trinity College, Dublin, an experience which has left him with an abiding affection for that city, which he revisits regularly. Because of his Irish heritage he also has a deep love for Ireland and Irish culture, particularly Irish music and literature. Apart from writing he enjoys reading, listening to music, going to concerts, studying classical languages, gardening, walking and watching Manchester United. Politically Eugene describes himself as a ‘democratic socialist’ as well as an environmentalist who supports charities such as Greenpeace and movements such as Extinction Rebellion. He is also a vegetarian and keen supporter of animal rights charities. Eugene has published five novels so far: Ghosters, Opposite Worlds, Italian Girls, Hearts and Crosses and, most recently, The Spanish Girl (April 2022). He has also published two volumes of poetry, Venice and Other Poems and Thirty-Nine Poems. All are available on Amazon and other online bookstores. Eugene is on Facebook. You can contact him here on Goodreads or at eugenekvesey@gmail.com

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me, this one. I found that the subject matter wasn’t well-served by the style, which is flat and gives no indication of interiority or nuance. Too much is told rather than shown. It tackles some dark and important issues but left me cold as I couldn't relate to the main character. It’s narrated in quite a childish way, which is fine when it’s about childhood but it remained too simplistic as the boy grows and matures.

[Marie (UK) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sorry but despite struggling manfully this was just not one i could get through. Not only is the focus the way Priests mistreated children in their car but it is also a woeful narrative thta just generates no interest - I could not finish it