Ghostlight

by Caitlin DuBois

A peek behind the curtain reveals a story of girlhood, grooming, and manipulation…

While her best friends are preparing for the most importantt summer of their lives with big plans and Sweet 16 parties, painfully shy Claire Payne joins the stage crew of the Spring Grove Players’ summer musical.

Although she struggles to make friends at first, when Don Preston takes her under his wing, Claire’s world starts to change. Illuminated by his charm, she blossoms and falls in love.

However, as Claire finds herself more and more isolated in the beautiful world of ghost stories and love letters Don has introduced her to, strange incidents around the theater start to blur the lines between fantasy and reality.

368 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 11, 2022

About the author

Born in New Jersey, Caitlin Du Bois spent her teenage years inside of a lighting booth at her local community theaters. Following her acceptance to Arcadia University, however, she hung up her gloves and studied history. After receiving her BA, she moved to Pennsylvania, working in marketing and sales. Currently she lives with her son, step-son, and partner in PA, running her own business.

Reviews

[R.G. Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Ghostlight: a Story of Girlhood, Grooming, and Manipulation, in which a middle-aged man in authority seduces and takes advantage of a fifteen year-old girl practically in plain sight of others in the community theater where much of the novel is set, one may be tempted to ask, “How can such things happen?” One is reminded, then, of the dangerous predatory nature of some men, the maelstrom of confusion swirling inside most adolescents, and many onlookers’ convenient habit of looking the other way. Du Bois presents the story of Claire with a keen eye to all three of these truths. Who should read this book? Teenage girls coping with body image and the romantic storms that rage inside themselves as well as Claire. Parents, teachers, and anyone else charged with the welfare of adolescents. Creatives of all ages who find themselves bound to one another through the make-believe of theatre, creative writing, or art. In short, everyone. Though readers may find themselves asking, “How?” the quiet authority Du Bois brings to the telling of this tale assures us that such things have indeed happened and continue to occur. Ghostlight is an important book for all, a not-so-subtle reminder that such things do happen and it’s up to all to recognize them and prevent such harm from happening again.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghostlight is a story of grooming and manipulation. When we meet Claire she is 15 and focusing on all the typical teenage female insecurities. She ends up working stage crew at a local theater and quickly becomes the subject of Don Preston’s affection. Don is a middle aged man who not only mentors Claire at the theater but is her best friend’s father. His overly friendly actions occur in front of others leading Claire to question everything. Throughout the book, we see Claire struggle with her emotions and watch as Don manipulates her and begins to isolate her.

While reading I kept thinking how all these actions weren’t really questioned by the others and how those who were suspicious never spoke up. It was all too relatable. Du Bois writing style is excellent! She really makes you feel all the emotions of the characters. The manipulation was so well portrayed, I as the reader found myself sometimes even rooting for Don and Claire to have their moment before remembering he was an adult and not a “good match” for Claire 🤦🏻‍♀️ I devoured this book in 2 days and found the ending was what I’d imagine it would be like for someone who went through this. The book brought out different emotions in me, anger towards Don, sympathy for Claire and an overall sense of sadness at the end. I would absolutely recommend this book!

Ghostlight was so heartbreaking and relatable and a good reminder that things like this happen all too often. We need to be more aware of the signs and subtle (or not so subtle) cues and try to intervene when we can.

[Hannah Hutcheon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ghostlight is well written and addresses some very important issues such as child grooming and eating disorders in a respectful, empathetic way.

With that said, this book wasn't for me. I found that the pacing was very slow and most chapters didn't contribute to the progression of the story. I couldn't distinguish the purpose of individual chapters - the scenes were all the same scene just with different dialogue and internal narration yet nothing to add.

Because of this, the relationship between Claire and her abuser Mr. Preston stayed more or less the same throughout the main body, which I feel made the book less compelling. It had a lot of potential and fell flat. It may have been richer if Ghostlight were more concise, for much of it felt very repetitive.

However, the characters were well constructed and Mr. Preston felt like a realistic predator. I appreciate Caitlin Du Bois message and I'm sure many people will find this book to be very impactful.

[Ally Chappius · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don was an absolutely vile and repulsive predator character, making me viscerally uncomfortable while reading… huge compliments to the author!

However, the story itself was super redundant and there wasn’t any real major plot shifts to hold my attention. It just fell flat for me. There were also several typos throughout the book. I’m not sure this story was for me, but I can appreciate the goal of the author’s message and am sure this will reach some others in a more impactful way.

[Catie Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

With this book hitting so close to home, I knew it was going to be a tough read. And I couldn’t put it down. As I was reading, I couldn’t help but think how everyone let this man be so close to this teenage girl and yet belittle her behind her back. This book was shocking and stomach-churning, but shows the grim reality of those who get taken advantage of at a young age. Let this story be a lesson, that one should always be careful around, say, that all-too comfortable teacher or that generous and admirable production manager.

[Katie McAnally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was gifted an advanced copy of this book and wow... Ghostlight is the best book I have read in a long time. I was sucked in right from the beginning; the more I read, the more I wanted to keep reading.

Ghostlight is both heartbreaking and relatable. Reading Claire's story gave me chills and also opened my heart. Cailtin DuBois' writing is excellent. I loved everything about this book - the writing, the setting, the character development, the ending, the list goes on.

Please do yourself a favor and buy this book!

[Krystal Haefner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of "Ghostlight"
By: Caitlin Du Bois

Content warning: This book does contain grooming content and eating disorder (bulimia).

Ghostlight follows 15 year old Claire as she tries to navigate the difficulty of being a teenage girl, when Don her friends 40 year old father starts to take an interest in her. At first she believes this interest is just him trying to help the shy/insecure girl feel more confident about herself but then it feels like more and she's not sure how to handle it or who to talk to about what was happening.

Things I like about the book:
* I feel like the characters are very relatable and I connected with the main character almost immediately because she is introverted, shy, loves to read and doesn't quite fit in with her peers.
*The story is also relatable, I know when I was a teenage girl there was definitely older men I found attractive and didn't mind the extra attention from and sometimes it was too much and very uncomfortable and she portrays those emotions and feelings so well.
*The flow of the book, it is such an easy read. When I would read it I didn't want to put it down, I just wanted to keep reading more and more.
*The strength and vulnerability of the main character, you see her be very open and honest about everything and by the end you see her strength. 
*The importance of this story, I think young girls everywhere should read this book so they can identify grooming behavior and hopefully say something to someone who will help them and keep them safe.

Things I didn't like:
*It ended, lol! I was very sad when it was over.

Overall I would give this book a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really loved this book and I will read it again, it is well written and relatable and I can't wait to see what else Caitlin writes!!