Desire: A Haunting

by Molly Gaudry

Traumatized by the events of We Take Me Apart, the unlikely heroine of Desire: A Haunting leads a silent life in the cottage that has been in her family since Hester Prynne first bequeathed it to Pearl — whose endearingly cranky spirit remains. So begins this strange friendship between “dog” and a ghost calling herself “Ogie."

A different kind of love story, Desire is about how dog and Ogie learn to care for each other after only pretending to at first, about how they adopt a ghost child named William whose fascination with holidays brings celebration to the cottage, and about how long-ago dresses made from flowers stitch the three of them closer and new spirit into their lives.

Genres: Poetry

304 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2018

About the author

Molly Gaudry is the founder of Lit Pub and the author of the verse novel WE TAKE ME APART, which was a finalist for the Asian American Literary Award and shortlisted for the PEN/Osterweil. DESIRE: A HAUNTING, its sequel, and FIT INTO ME: A NOVEL: A MEMOIR, are further explorations of the same story world and characters. Molly holds master’s degrees in fiction and poetry from the University of Cincinnati and George Mason University, respectively, and a PhD in experimental prose from the University of Utah. An assistant professor at Stony Brook University, she teaches nonfiction and poetry in the BFA and MFA programs. Summers, she teaches fiction at the Yale Writers’ Workshop.

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. I drank in this surreal, ghost-like, vaporous story. Gaudry is a hugely unique and talented writer. I feel privileged to have spent time with her vivid, poetic imagination and her ability to do something magical with trauma. I'm still feeling the exquisite shivers of the haunted...

[Sonja Hennessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desire by Molly Gaudry definitely made me think about loneliness and belonging by mixing with fantasy and reality. Ogie, William and the narrator share a house and tend to each other. Definitely need to read the first book, "We take me apart" by her to fully appreciate Desire.