Yellow

If fourteen-year-old Kirra is having a mid-life crisis now, then it doesn't bode well for her life expectancy. Her so-called friends bully her, whatever semblance of a mother she had has been drowned at the bottom of a gin bottle ever since her dad left them for another woman, and a teenage ghost is speaking to her through a broken phone booth.

Kirra and the ghost make a pact. She'll prove who murdered him almost twenty years ago if he makes her popular, gets her parents back together, and promises not to haunt her. But things aren't so simple, and Kirra realises that people can be haunted in more ways than one.

'This story has such a generous heart. I loved it. Utterly unique and beautifully written, Yellow pulls you into the rhythms of life in a small coastal town; its beauty and its harsh realities. But it's the supernatural element that illuminates the story, weaving through the loves and hopes of characters you care for deeply. I was there every inch of the way with Kirra, as she fought for a future she could believe in, and I cheered for her too.' Kirsty Eagar

'In her first novel, Megan Jacobson reveals herself to be a masterful storyteller . . . This is young-adult fiction at its best.' Nick Earls