Katy's Ghost

by Trish Evans

Overview

Haunted by childhood traumas, happily married Katy Welborn is at a crossroads: in her late 30s, her biological clock ticking, she has survived cancer but her fears of family skeletons dangling in the genetic closet have paralyzed her from becoming pregnant. That’s when her long-departed Grandmother Nellie appears as sort of a guardian angel, leading Katy on a journey back through
the tortured pages of her past.

With unexpected humor and often profound insights, Katy revisits a series of traumatic encounters: a severely schizophrenic uncle whose presence threatens the entire family, an emotionally unstable sister who has spiraled into the lost zone of southern California’s 1960s drug-infused counterculture; and a well-meaning suburban family torn
apart by its own bizarre eccentricities.

Set in the 1990s, with flashbacks to the 1950s and 1960s, Katy’s Ghost takes readers into painful territory, captured with a soft soul.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781733234917
Publisher:	StoneArch Bridge Books
Publication date:	10/22/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	356
File size:	953 KB

About the Author

Trish Evans was raised in an eccentric southern California family of journalists, writers and musicians. She graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the renowned School of Speech. She taught language skills to deaf and severely hard of hearing children for several years, then studied marriage and family counseling at Loyola Marymount University and did additional graduate studies in psychology at the University of Southern California. While attending graduate school, Trish worked as a researcher and librarian for a leading international consulting company. Later, she provided story adaptations for various children's television programs. She cannot remember a time when she was not writing, but in 2014 she turned her attention to full-time fiction writing. When not tapping on her keyboard, Trish can usually be found working in her garden, bike riding or walking along a California beach with her husband and their goldendoodle, Ollie. Visit her at trishevansbooks.com.

Editorial Reviews

“Katy and Gram’s story has moments of wit and sublime epiphany.” Kirkus Reviews

“A parable of overcoming fears.” Foreword

From the Publisher

2019-10-07
In Evans' debut novel, a former teacher, haunted by a phantom, learns to move beyond fear and toward acceptance.

Katy Welborn McAndrews is a breast cancer survivor, but despite being cancer-free for three years, her doctor advises her against getting pregnant, as it could raise the risk that the cancer will return. Then Katy receives a visit from the spirit of her beloved grandmother, who died 11 years ago. Despite her death, it appears that Gram hasn't lost the usual spring in her step. During her frequent visitations and reminiscences, she and Katy pore through their pasts, uncovering old hurts and fears along the way. Despite the somewhat familiar nature of the narrative, Evans throws in a few twists and turns; for example, an early plot thread about Katy's uncle Rollie and younger sister Wendy appears to be heading toward predictable territory, but takes an unexpected, sharp turn to become an exploration of heredity, and how a child's perceptions shape the adult they later become. Although the fearful nature of Evans' protagonist can be occasionally wearying, Katy still comes across as a realistic portrayal of a trauma survivor, and her steps toward freedom as she escapes the shackles of her past feel earned. The ghostly Gram is also a fully realized character, offering verve, timidity, and regret in varying measures as Katy's understanding of her deepens. That said, other secondary players feel flat and underdeveloped, and the chronology of the narrative feels unclear. Overall, though, Katy and Gram's story has moments of wit and sublime epiphany.

A moving, if occasionally flawed, exploration of one woman's attempt to conquer lifelong anxieties.

Kirkus Reviews