A new novel arriving this September takes readers straight into the heart of a Solent crossing.
Emily Bullock’s Almost a Ghost Story follows four strangers who meet aboard an Isle of Wight ferry, each one carrying their own burden of grief, guilt or love left unresolved.
The book poses a simple but haunting question: if you had one final moment, what would you do for love?
Marin, Ronan, Hollis and Jay share that crossing, though the story soon asks whether this really counts as their first meeting.
A ferry with its own rules
The novel sets up an unusual premise for its central journey: passengers can’t buy new tickets, they can only exchange them.
Marin and Ronan use that exchange to search for a way to rewrite their fate, chasing something that love and loss have already taken from them.
Meanwhile, Hollis and Jay strike a desperate trade of their own, and their decision starts to pull old secrets into the light.
As the ferry blurs into Island life, memory becomes the map the characters must follow, though Emily makes clear that redemption carries a cost.
Author Amanda Craig has already praised Emily’s writing, calling her “a writer of dazzling talent”.
A growing body of work
Bristol Short Story Prize judges have honoured Emily in the past, and publications have featured her short fiction in numerous anthologies since.
Myriad published her debut novel, The Longest Fight, which earned a shortlist place for the Cross Sports Book Awards and a spot on The Independent’s Paperbacks of the Year list.
Everything with Words published her second novel, Inside the Beautiful Inside, back in 2020, and both The Times and The Observer reviewed it.
A year later, Emily released a short story collection titled Human Terrain, which went on to earn a longlisting for the 2022 Edge Hill Prize.
When and where to find it
Everything with Words will publish Almost a Ghost Story on 17th September 2026 as a 304-page B-format paperback, priced at £10.99, with the ISBN 9781911427544.
Readers looking for an Island-set story with an emotional pull may want to add this one to their list this autumn.
