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Ghost Story
When Agatha and Paddy decide to leave London and buy a house on the coast, they are full of hope for themselves and their growing family. Three months later, when the builders move out and they move in, things look very different. A personal tragedy threatens to destroy all they have carefully built up and only a small miracle, it seems, will save them ...Ghost Story is a book both haunted and haunting, which asks how we can ever mourn something that hasn't lived. Emotionally resonant, beautifully crafted and ultimately redemptive, it is Toby Litt's finest, most mature novel to date.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
3 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Toby Litt
89 books212 followersToby Litt was born in Bedfordshire, England. He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia where he was taught by Malcolm Bradbury, winning the 1995 Curtis Brown Fellowship.
He lived in Prague from 1990 to 1993 and published his first book, a collection of short stories entitled Adventures in Capitalism, in 1996.
In 2003 Toby Litt was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'.
In 2018, he published Wrestliana, his memoir about wrestling, writing, losing and being a man.
His novel, A Writer's Diary, was published by Galley Beggar Press on January 1st 2022.
A Writer's Diary continues daily on Substack.
He lives in London and is the Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.
He lived in Prague from 1990 to 1993 and published his first book, a collection of short stories entitled Adventures in Capitalism, in 1996.
In 2003 Toby Litt was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'.
In 2018, he published Wrestliana, his memoir about wrestling, writing, losing and being a man.
His novel, A Writer's Diary, was published by Galley Beggar Press on January 1st 2022.
A Writer's Diary continues daily on Substack.
He lives in London and is the Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 28, 2021
Poking around Goodreads and the Internet, I see this has mixed reviews, but I thought it was excellent, if not without flaws.
It’s been in my to-read pile for at least five years, since I read an excerpt in a Granta collection about the pursuit of a literary hare:
I will, in this great library – cavernous yet luminous – on this wooden chair, at this wooden desk, attempt to hunt the hare haphazard; to examine the quotidian grasses, to sniff the wind of correspondence, to trace the found tracks of the intentional, to crumble or squidge the meant droppings, and to come – eventually – to the real presence of a real living literary animal-idea, and not kill it.
The novel is prefaced by three short pieces: the one about the hare, a three-pager about foxes, and a presumably autobiographical account of the author and his girlfriend experiencing a trio of early miscarriages. The main book is about a couple who move into a house shortly after the stillbirth of their second child. It’s a literary ghost story, with the emphasis firmly on literary: it’s entirely realistic, with some suggestions of the fantastic.
This is a formula that almost always works for me, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also find Litt to be an excellent writer, both on a sentence level and in terms of psychological insight. There may have been a smidge, just a smidge too much psychological insight at times, but it was very well done.
My only real quibble is with the autobiographical section. It’s very well written too, but reading about other people’s miscarriages, like other people’s labour, is a bit like reading about bureaucracy: everything follows along well-worn tracks, if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.
Anyway, Litt has been a very satisfying (re)discovery. His latest novel, Patience, got very good reviews and I’m glad it reminded me to read this.
It’s been in my to-read pile for at least five years, since I read an excerpt in a Granta collection about the pursuit of a literary hare:
I will, in this great library – cavernous yet luminous – on this wooden chair, at this wooden desk, attempt to hunt the hare haphazard; to examine the quotidian grasses, to sniff the wind of correspondence, to trace the found tracks of the intentional, to crumble or squidge the meant droppings, and to come – eventually – to the real presence of a real living literary animal-idea, and not kill it.
The novel is prefaced by three short pieces: the one about the hare, a three-pager about foxes, and a presumably autobiographical account of the author and his girlfriend experiencing a trio of early miscarriages. The main book is about a couple who move into a house shortly after the stillbirth of their second child. It’s a literary ghost story, with the emphasis firmly on literary: it’s entirely realistic, with some suggestions of the fantastic.
This is a formula that almost always works for me, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also find Litt to be an excellent writer, both on a sentence level and in terms of psychological insight. There may have been a smidge, just a smidge too much psychological insight at times, but it was very well done.
My only real quibble is with the autobiographical section. It’s very well written too, but reading about other people’s miscarriages, like other people’s labour, is a bit like reading about bureaucracy: everything follows along well-worn tracks, if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.
Anyway, Litt has been a very satisfying (re)discovery. His latest novel, Patience, got very good reviews and I’m glad it reminded me to read this.
May 29, 2007
Quite possibly the most boring book I've ever come across, and the first book I've ever read that I simply wasn't able to finish. Litt's "Deadkidsongs" is one of my favourite books, but every other work by him I've read is dull, badly written and just extremely unimpressive. I try not to give up on him as an author, because he has shown that he can write, but when I look at how bad his other works are, I'm starting to wonder whether that was just one lucky strike.
Anyway; do not ever go near this book, it's a waste of time and space.
Anyway; do not ever go near this book, it's a waste of time and space.
June 16, 2017
Stond op het punt om het boek niet uit te lezen...
Vond het zo vreemd beginnen en kon er geen touw aan vastknopen.
Toch verder gegaan omdat er toch veel goede recensies zijn ... maar ook heel veel slechte.
Het is een indringend verhaal en wordt met name verteld door de vrouw die haar kind heeft verloren.
Er is een goede recensievan "Trouw" en na het lezen van deze zag ik het verband tussen alles...
Als dit in het boek vermeld zou zijn geweesst dan zouden waarschijnlijk meerdere mensen door zijn gegaan met het lezen van dit boek.
En niet - zoals ikzelf ook in eerste instantie wilde -- afhaken.
"Bijna 50 pagina's telt de proloog van 'Geesteskind', en hij is, zoals dat heet, waar gebeurd. En schrijver krijgt steeds weer een beeld voor ogen van een haas, maar weet nog niet of hij dat in zijn werk zou kunnen gebruiken. Tot het plotseling rauw en verrassend op zijn plaats valt door wat zich in het echte leven afspeelt. In dat echte leven krijgt Toby Litt's vriendin Leigh, aan wie 'Geesteskind' is opgedragen, haar derde miskraam.
Na deze non-fictie opening begint de roman, over de miskraam van Agatha, en het bodemloze verdriet dat bijna leidt tot de vernietiging van alles wat haar lief is: haar huwelijk, haar zoontje, haar man Paddy, zij zelf."
Het verhaal van "De Haas" had er voor wat mij betreft niet ingehoeven...
ook veel lange zinnen maar niet vervelend... het laat je dingen zien...
Vond het zo vreemd beginnen en kon er geen touw aan vastknopen.
Toch verder gegaan omdat er toch veel goede recensies zijn ... maar ook heel veel slechte.
Het is een indringend verhaal en wordt met name verteld door de vrouw die haar kind heeft verloren.
Er is een goede recensievan "Trouw" en na het lezen van deze zag ik het verband tussen alles...
Als dit in het boek vermeld zou zijn geweesst dan zouden waarschijnlijk meerdere mensen door zijn gegaan met het lezen van dit boek.
En niet - zoals ikzelf ook in eerste instantie wilde -- afhaken.
"Bijna 50 pagina's telt de proloog van 'Geesteskind', en hij is, zoals dat heet, waar gebeurd. En schrijver krijgt steeds weer een beeld voor ogen van een haas, maar weet nog niet of hij dat in zijn werk zou kunnen gebruiken. Tot het plotseling rauw en verrassend op zijn plaats valt door wat zich in het echte leven afspeelt. In dat echte leven krijgt Toby Litt's vriendin Leigh, aan wie 'Geesteskind' is opgedragen, haar derde miskraam.
Na deze non-fictie opening begint de roman, over de miskraam van Agatha, en het bodemloze verdriet dat bijna leidt tot de vernietiging van alles wat haar lief is: haar huwelijk, haar zoontje, haar man Paddy, zij zelf."
Het verhaal van "De Haas" had er voor wat mij betreft niet ingehoeven...
ook veel lange zinnen maar niet vervelend... het laat je dingen zien...
April 4, 2020
Really beautifully written and very moving at times.
October 5, 2023
It’s an amazing book describing the strong depression after loosing an unborn baby. Is really intense and really horrible what human mind can do. Fortunately it has a good ending
January 17, 2023
This is one book that I didn’t finish which is unusual for me, but sadly I didn’t enjoy it. Not for me.
November 14, 2012
Toby Litt is an author I’ve intended to read for ages; his work is so varied that it’s hard to know where to start, so I just went for something from the middle of his career to date. I may not know Litt’s work that well, but I know enough to be wary of a novel that so blatantly declares its (ostensible) genre. And, indeed, Ghost Story is not a ghost story as you might imagine; its ‘ghosts’ are not the supernatural kind.
When first we meet Agatha and Paddy, she’s expecting, and they’re about to leave London for a new home on the south coast. After they’ve moved in, Agatha has given birth to Max, but miscarried his twin, which has affected her deeply (as it has Paddy, but Agatha is the novel’s main focus), and she becomes withdrawn. Effectively, Agatha comes to haunt (and is haunted by) her own house. Litt tells this story in a way that highlights its fictionality: long descriptive passages which create a sense of lassitude, dialogue which feels theatrical rather than naturalistic – and there’s a tension between this and the book’s emotions, which ring so true.
It seems to me that key to understanding Ghost Story is its fifty-page preface, in which Litt describes how he and his partner were themselves affected by three miscarriages. This memoir also includes a couple of fantastical sections; the sense here is that fiction can tell certain kinds of truth which non-fiction cannot. The story of Agatha and Paddy strikes me as a portrait of loss which lies beneath the surface of what’s told, and is perhaps all the more powerful for it.
When first we meet Agatha and Paddy, she’s expecting, and they’re about to leave London for a new home on the south coast. After they’ve moved in, Agatha has given birth to Max, but miscarried his twin, which has affected her deeply (as it has Paddy, but Agatha is the novel’s main focus), and she becomes withdrawn. Effectively, Agatha comes to haunt (and is haunted by) her own house. Litt tells this story in a way that highlights its fictionality: long descriptive passages which create a sense of lassitude, dialogue which feels theatrical rather than naturalistic – and there’s a tension between this and the book’s emotions, which ring so true.
It seems to me that key to understanding Ghost Story is its fifty-page preface, in which Litt describes how he and his partner were themselves affected by three miscarriages. This memoir also includes a couple of fantastical sections; the sense here is that fiction can tell certain kinds of truth which non-fiction cannot. The story of Agatha and Paddy strikes me as a portrait of loss which lies beneath the surface of what’s told, and is perhaps all the more powerful for it.
July 28, 2011
Hadn't read any by this author before (possibly due to my entrenched and irrational dislike of people called Toby, see also Cordelia, Tabitha, Tarquin, etc). Shall certainly try some more of his as this was very well written, and while the internal anguish of the character Agatha got up my nose every once in a while, the cumulative effect was very powerful. A lovely ending, clearly very carefully thought out. Moving. I didn't think the extended autobiographical preface particularly added to the novel (except that it padded out the page count a bit) but that was very readable and quite moving too.
June 25, 2015
So horrible I didn't bother finishing it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews