The Ghost of You

In this poignant sophomore YA novel, a transgender teen must grapple with a longtime friendship fracturing and a new romance budding, all while being haunted by his grief from his brother’s death.

Everything has felt wrong since Caleb’s brother died, so when he sees a black cat that seems off, he doesn’t think anything of it. But when he looks closer, the cat doesn’t appear to have a clear face. It looks like it’s been smudged out. And he keeps following Caleb around. Haunting him. So Caleb calls him Ghost.

Caleb is trying to return to his normal life, but he can’t stop feeling distant and numb. Even being assigned to work on a school project with Emmett, the lead singer for a punk rock band, just feels like another blip. But as Caleb’s feelings for Emmett grow, so does the distance he has put between himself and his best friend, Tanya. Can Caleb stop running from his grief in order to save his friendship and discover Ghost’s true purpose?

Michael Gray Bulla is a recent graduate of Wells College. He was named the 2017 Nashville Youth Poet Laureate with Southern Word and is the author of the poetry collection Letters to the Home. He is also the cohost of the literary podcast Bookends. Gray's first book is If I Can Give You That, and his second is The Ghost of You. Originally from Nashville, Bulla currently resides in Ithaca, New York.