Ghost Flight: A compelling tale of friendship, secrets and post-conflict Cyprus from the award-winning author of Thirty-Eight Days of Rain

by Eva Asprakis

Overview

A 2025 BookLife Fiction Prize Quarterfinalist (October 2025). A 2025 New York Book Festival General Fiction Award Honorable Mention (August 2025). A Kirkus Reviews 'GET IT' Book (August 2025).

'A sharp and well-observed portrait of lives at the crossroads' Kirkus Reviews

'A rarity...Asprakis's skill at tapping into life's beauty and pain lingers long after the book's final page' the BookLife Prize

'A haunting and heartbreaking story' Rebekah Gregoriades for Cyprus Mail

'A compelling novel that deserves its place on your bookshelf' Annetta Benzar, author of I Am Cyprus

'Her most accomplished novel to date...confirms [Asprakis's] place as one of the most exciting writers of her generation' Matthew Phillip Long, author of Life Goes On Without You and Me

August, 2005.

High-school sweethearts Aristos and Agathi, and Petros and Melina, are the best of friends, until Aristos declares that he is leaving Cyprus for university.

Seven years later, Aristos returns with his new girlfriend, Wendy, to find Petros and Melina engaged, and Agathi still hung up on him.

As the estranged friends become reacquainted, their worlds come apart. All of them have wrongs to right, but with Cyprus hurtling towards the worst aviation disaster in its history, they might have less time than they think.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781036918910
Publisher:	Eva Asprakis Books
Publication date:	05/09/2025
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Eva Asprakis is an award-winning contemporary fiction author. Her debut novel, Love and Only Water, was published in September 2022. Her second novel, Thirty-Eight Days of Rain, won the 2024 Ink Book Prize for Fiction. Upon its release in March 2024, the novel was selected as a NetGalley Book of the Month, an IndieReader Approved and Best Reviewed Book, and a Reedsy Discovery Featured Recommendation. It was also a NoMo Book Club Pick. Eva's third novel, Ghost Flight, came out in May 2025, earning a 'GET IT' Verdict from Kirkus Reviews who call the story 'a sharp and well-observed portrait of lives at the crossroads'.​​​ In August 2025 both Ghost Flight and Thirty-Eight Days of Rain received Honorable Mentions at the 2025 New York Book Festival Awards, and in October 2025 Ghost Flight was named a Quarterfinalist in the 2025 BookLife Fiction Prize. Beyond publishing three novels, Eva has appeared on various podcasts and as a guest speaker on the Literature Panel at the 2024 Cyprus Diaspora Forum. Also in 2024, she ran a 'Writing as Remedy' webinar for World Childless Week and was named by Ever-Growing as an Emerging Author to Watch in 2025. Her work has featured in publications including Cyprus Mail, Greek City Times and The Publishing Post. She has served as a judge for the 2025 Ink Book Prize for Fiction and is a member of the Technical Committee on Culture in Cyprus. Eva lives in Nicosia with her partner and is currently writing her fourth novel. Her work explores complex family dynamics, sexuality and womanhood, and the search for identity and belonging.

Editorial Reviews

2025-08-25
Asprakis’ novel follows four intertwined 20-somethings in 2004 Cyprus.

After seven years abroad in London, Aristos returns to Cyprus with his new girlfriend, Wendy. Soon they are settling in, living in an apartment owned by Aristos’ father and connecting with the childhood friend group that Aristos left behind. His best friends, Petros and Melina, are recently engaged, and his former girlfriend, Agathi, does not seem to be entirely over him. The story begins with a tight focus on Aristos but soon expands as the narrative alternates between the perspectives of the major characters (aside from Agathi). Giving each character their own attention and weight, Asprakis fills in their complicated backstories and shows how their pasts have shaped their present. Melina must decide whether or not she really loves Petros and if their engagement is something she will see through all the way to marriage. Wendy, as the outsider, serves as a reader surrogate as she experiences Cyprus, detailing her experiences on the island with the fresh eyes of a newcomer. Like the other characters, she is also confronting issues from her past—in her case, a less-then-ideal stint in art school. As she reflects at an evening church service, “People are beaming and linking arms, not one of them lonely. Not one of them free. So many times in her young life, Wendy has feared that art would not work out—and then what would she do?” Interspersed throughout the story are historical details about Greece (and Cyprus in particular), including references to the 1974 Greek takeover of Cyprus and the Turkish invasion. Every so often, the narrative is interrupted by Accident Investigation reports for airplane crashes, leading to the deadliest airplane crash in Cyprus history. Readers unfamiliar with this particular incident may find the reports jarring, disconnected as they are from anything else in the story. Still, the dark cloud they generate has its intended effect, even if readers do not know what’s coming.

A sharp and well-observed portrait of lives at the crossroads.

Kirkus Reviews