Raised by Ghosts

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By Briana Loewinsohn. Published by Fantagraphics. Softcover, 224 pages, Colour, 2025 This brilliant YA graphic novel is a love letter to family and all of the messy complexities th ey come with, from the acclaimed author of Ephemera: A Memoir. Set in the author’s own teenage years, Raised By Ghosts begins in 1991 with semi autobiographical Briana in middle school. Classes are a bummer, but lunches are worse; either spent alone, or being teased. Traditionally a good student, Briana is not doing well in her academics, but keeps it a secret. Her parents (divorced) are a mess, and largely absent. She spends a lot of time by herself. By high school, she makes friends, and those connections are her only source of happiness as they help each other navigate adolescence. But life at home with each parent remains fraught. When her relationships at school begin to falter, she has no one to turn to, forcing Briana to grapple with her sense of self-worth, her longing for belonging, and her desire for authenticity in her relationships. Raised By Ghosts is a powerful, affecting graphic novel for young adult readers. The story is told by shifting between Briana’s first-person class notes and diary entries. In her understated yet masterful approach to comics storytelling, Loewinsohn eschews dramatic confrontations and overt sentimentality, preferring instead to underscore the idea that sometimes acceptance and love can be communicated through quiet, everyday moments and close family bonds. "Decades-old notes stitch together a wistful search for connection and acceptance in this aching semi-autobiographical comic by Loewinsohn." — Publishers Weekly Starred Review "Lovely and atmospheric, Raised by Ghosts is a potent trip back to the 1990s. I could feel myself unfolding one of Loewinsohn's handwritten notes." — Rainbow Rowell, NYT bestselling author of Eleanor & Park "A quiet, heartfelt memoir about the joys and sorrows of being a teenager. Poetic and beautifully rendered." — Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese "Raised by Ghosts is so beautiful and melancholy and sweet and devastating. Briana captures the sanctity of friendship and art, and the all-consuming sadness of being a teenager, in a way I've never seen on paper before. If parental neglect leads to brilliant cartoonists like Briana, maybe we should all neglect our kids a little more. This is a book that might have saved me as a teen, but it came out too late. At least I got to thoroughly enjoy it as an adult." — Julia Wertz, author of Impossible People "While there is an inevitable adult sensibility in the insights Briana has, this is more comforting than precocious, as it demonstrates that there is good on the other side of adolescence, and that one can even gain some wisdom having survived it." — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Show more