The Library of the Dead

"This book is such fun! I’ve been teaching it in a couple of my classes. It’s really a young adult book , but – I don’t know how to say this without sounding rude – it’s not annoying! It doesn’t have that character-always-making-the-worst-decision-possible vibe. The character’s a youth, and they do silly things, but it makes sense. It’s set in a kind of a post-apocalyptic Edinburgh, which is so much fun. That’s where I did my PhD – so it was lovely to see all my old haunts, steadily crumbling. There’s a young girl who’s a ghost whisperer. This is her job: she can get ghosts to talk to her, so she takes messages to their families, and the families can get the message for a certain amount of money. So it’s a little scammy, but it is legit, she does actually talk to these ghosts. She’s from a very low class in this world – there are still the classic class stratifications of the UK, but it’s greatly exacerbated because of this post-apocalyptic world. She’s from the absolute slums. But she ends up becoming the mentee of this very famous magician, who’s part of the aristocracy of magic. Shenanigans ensue. Again, we’re investigating something. Most of these have a mystery subplot. And this one is just so much fun! It’s post-apocalyptic, but the focus isn’t survival – it’s not the kind of post-apocalyptic novel where they’re figuring out how to get water. It reminds me a little bit of a far less bleak Parable of the Sower , because it’s a recent post-apocalyptic scenario. It feels like a commentary on where we could easily go, minus the fantasy stuff. You know, I’m always surprised. I’m very sceptical about the existence of ghosts, especially after having lived in somewhere like Edinburgh. If you don’t run into a ghost in the Grassmarket, where literally hundreds of women were burned to death , is your suburban house really going to be full of ghosts? Is that really what would happen? So, I am sceptical about the paranormal – and I’m always surprised at how that scepticism is not echoed by others. I think ultimately people just want to understand what happens when we die, and think that there will be contact with their loved ones afterwards. It’s a seductive idea to explore, so it’s going to endure. I think something like the vampire or the werewolf, which is equally seductive, is almost too scientific now – the more we explore them, the more we make up possible reasons why they exist and come down to viruses or genetics. They lose their mystery. They’re still sexy and fun, but they’re not as baffling and frightening as they once were. Whereas we still don’t know what happens with death, and the purpose of it, and whether there is life after death. I think that might be part of it."