Thursday, October 6, 2022

Anya's Ghost

Brosgol, Vera. Anya's Ghost. 2011. 221p. ISBN 978-1-59643-713-5. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.



Anya is an immigrant to the United States. Her mother is Russian, and Anya only arrived in time to start primary school. Now in high school, Anya has lost her accent, and adopted a different last name (honestly, who can pronounce Borzakovskaya?). Despite that, she has only one friend, feels ostracized by her classmates, and resents the attention she receives from Dima, another Russian immigrant who is a more recent arrival in her private school.

Cutting class and smoking are Anya's favorite activities in school, something she does often with her friend Siobhan. Angry one day, Anya runs through the forest near the school, only to fall into an old abandoned well. Recovering from her drop, she discovers a skeleton, and meets the ghost of Emily, a girl who fell in the well 90 years ago and was never found. Emily tells her her parents were murdered, and she barely escaped the house, only to fall here and die of thirst and of a broken neck. Emily is stuck in the well, as her ghost cannot abandon her skeleton. Fearing for her own life, Anya spends the time nursing her small stash of food, and smoking cigarettes.

Rescued by a passerby, Anya finds that she spent two days in the well. When she wakes up the next morning, she realizes that she must have picked up one of Emily's bones by accident, because Emily is with her. At first Anya is annoyed at this ghost that is always there, but she soon realizes there are advantages to having a ghost. She can get answers on tests. The ghost can be her wingman as she tries to woo Sean, who is perfect Elizabeth's boyfriend.

As time passes, Emily becomes more demanding, and the lifestyle changes she's promoting don't seem right to Anya. How do you back away from a ghost who's trying to control your life?

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