Ghosts of Spring

by Luis Carrasco

A young girl, anonymous and ignored, sits through a cold, hard west-country winter, begging for change and searching for a warm place to sleep. Ghosts of Spring explores one girl's desire to transcend the limits of her environment and forge a new life against all the odds.

Genres: Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

Published March 24, 2022

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghosts of Spring is another fantastic entry from époque press. Luis Carrasco's second novel is set in a UK city resembling Gloucester and follows a young homeless woman during the winter months as she navigates first an urban and, later, rural setting. Carrasco does an excellent job conveying the day to day realities of homelessness, but where the novel shines is on a psychological level as we see the woman's coping mechanisms for facing the reality of her situation. The close third-person narrative is an excellent choice - allowing readers access to the woman's situation without Carrasco speaking for her. The prose is quiet and almost meditative, effectively conveying a particular approach to coping with trauma.

[Claire Fuller]

An unnamed girl is homeless in an English city. We watch her as she attempts to keep her dignity while begging, stealing food and sleeping on the streets. We see the stark choices she has to make and the consequences. It's a tough read, but Carrasco is great at the details, carefully observing and standing back to let readers decide how we feel. It's deeply moving, and there is some light at the end.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

In all my years as a reader, I have come across two books about homeless people. One is Knut Hamsun’s Hunger and the other is Luis Carrasco’s more recent Ghosts of Spring.

The main protagonist lives in a city and spends her day wandering around, begging for money, socialising with other homeless people and, occasionally sleeps over at her friend Suni, a sex worker. Although this plot summary may seem simplistic, Luis Carrasco drops all these details slowly. Through a gradual build up we readers get a glimpse of the girl’s routines, her morning cup of coffee , her name changes everyday so the reader never finds out her real name, how she begs for money and her wanderings. Sometimes she helps other tramps find shelter but we know that she is not bound to anybody.

Things change a bit when the protagonist goes to the country and there she comes to a realisation that maybe some form of conformity may help her.

Ghosts of Spring is a very emotional book. There is a lot of power in Luis Carrasco’s words and we can’t help sympathising with the main protagonist. It also has light moments, which is quite a feat considering that a plot like this can easily descend into depressing territories. Saying that Ghosts of Spring never romanticises homelessness. We are presented with a certain of reality and how the main protagonist survives it.

Epoque Press have a knack of publishing books which resonate with me. Be it life affecting prose or interesting plots, they somehow manage to hit at my emotional core. Ghosts of Spring is no different. I have never read a tale about a homeless person which managed to make me smile and cry within the space of a page. What makes this book important is that the reader is able to care about this fictionalised character. If that isn’t a feat then I don’t know what is.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basics, necessary basics.............

The availability of basic necessities, a warm bed, shelter, food, showers, tea (yes that is a basic necessity) is so important. They may not be truly appreciated when we have them easily at hand but the 'funny' thing is that when we see the lack of them in the life of others, it changes how we see them, how we look at them, what we think of them. Be it pity, disdain, they are no longer on a level playing field with us, they are something lesser.

Reading this after El Hacho, I can see Carrasco continuing his tendency to look deeply in basic life needs, basic choices, what we need, what makes us happy, what control we have, what we can do and what we cannot. He does not give definite answers rather he opens up our view to the possibilities of different answers as there is not only one road we can travel but several.

Although this story immediately reminded me of Knutsen's Hunger (an obvious connection) it also reminded me of Joseph Andras Tomorrow They Won't Dare to Murder Us because of the importance of having availability to cleaning facilities and how this really effects our life and our image.

An ARC provided by publisher/author

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Carrasco's second novel, and it is very different to his brilliant debut, époque press's first book El Hacho.

This one is set entirely in Britain, and it follows a few months in the life of an unnamed teenage girl on the streets of a West Country city and then in a rural village where she starts to find a possible new life. Carrasco's ability to see and describe what most people choose to ignore is impressive and unsentimental, and as in El Hacho much of the descriptive writing is strong - my only reservations were that I found parts of the resolution a little difficult to believe. Another book that deserves a wider audience - I look forward to seeing what Carrasco does next.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suni once told her that it’s not the change in people’s pockets you are asking them to relinquish but the belief that they are any different to you. Persuade them to believe the two of you are separated by circumstance not by design.

Ghosts of Spring is the 12th and latest novel from époque press who are fast establishing themselves as one of the UK’s most exciting publishers, and their second novel by Luis Carrasco.

époque press is an independent publisher based in Brighton, with connections to Dublin and New York, established to promote and represent the very best in new literary talent.

Through a combination of our main publishing imprint and our online é-zine we aim to bring inspirational and thought provoking work to a wider audience.

Our main imprint is seeking out new voices, authors who are producing high-quality literary fiction and who are looking for a publisher to help them realise their ambitions. Our commitment is to fully consider all submissions on literary merit alone.

Their novel The Beasts They Turned Away has been longlisted for the 2022 Republic of Consciousness Prize which showcases the best in literary fiction from small, independent presses, and this book came to be via the highly-recommended Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club - sign up here: https://www.republicofconsciousness.c...

Ghosts of Spring is narrated in the present tense and from the close third person perspective of an unnamed (indeed withholding her name seems a key coping mechanism) girl, who is homeless and living on the streets of a cathedral city (unnamed but I think Gloucester).

From the coffee shop she walks the square and the arcade perching on the ends of benches and low walls, bike stands and window ledges, she sits and watches for a minute before moving on. People shop in groups of two and four, swinging wide, square bags on thin strings and stop for coffee and lunch, pulling things from the bags to show them over the table to their friends.

Hidden in plain sight amongst them, in nooks and doorways and sitting with heads hanging against cold stone walls are huddled shapes, blanketed and inert, with faces of indifferent boredom. Too cold to fish for cash and pity they sit with their faces wrapped in dirty scarves and stolen hats, working the empty corners of tobacco pouches and sucking cold coffee from yesterday's cups. Ghosts of flesh, they are here and everywhere and nobody sees a thing.
....

There is mathematical rationale to choosing a good spot and the same formulae is being applied throughout the square. She requires a good footfall of people but not in a place so obvious that she runs the risk of being moved on. She needs to be out of the wind but not hidden in a corner. Her favourite places in the square are already taken, some by familiar faces, others by shapes she doesn't recognise. To all she has assigned a name, partly to distinguish them but mostly from boredom. Today she can see Tiger-Beard, Shouts-A-Lot, and her favourite, Lives-In-A-Tent, all occupying the premier ground but she is glad to notice the edge of the square between the taxi rank and bike rack unoccupied. There is protection from the wind by the low wall that runs around the grass and it's dose enough to the outdoor café, which normally means a gift of food if not money.

The first-half of the novel describes the realities of her day-to-life, as when as her friendship with Suni, a prostitute, whose own situation is both better (more money, a roof over her head) and worse (in thrall to a gang) than the girl's, and whose own tragic story we follow in snatches as the girl hears of it or comes across her.

In the second-half, the girl makes the decision to move to the countryside, a tourist village in the Cotswolds, where she is less able to beg, but less subject to the numbing loneliness of being invisible amongst the busy crowds, and open to abuse. [If I had one reservation, the novel did seem to have a slight city-bad country-good bias in terms of treatment of the homeless, quality of life etc]

The novel is particularly effective at presenting a wide picture, there is humour amongst the suffering, moments of kindness and those who mean well, to set alongside moments of extreme violence and those who at best indifferent and at worse hostile, and indeed a hopeful resolution but with a real gut-punch in the closing lines.

An impressive, and moving read.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

”Hidden in plain sight amongst them, in nooks and doorways and sitting with heads hanging against cold stone walls are huddled shapes, blanketed and inert, with faces of indifferent boredom. Too cold to fish for cash and pity they sit with their faces wrapped in dirty scarves and stolen hats, working the empty corners of tobacco pouches and sucking cold coffee from yesterday's cups. Ghosts of flesh, they are here and everywhere and nobody sees a thing.”

I picked up this book immediately after a re-read of Denis Johnson’s “Jesus’ Son” (a book where I have lost count of how many times I have read it). I mention this because Johnson is an acknowledged master of writing about people on the margins of society and that is exactly what Carrasco does here in Ghosts of Spring. The quote above concerns homeless people on the streets of an English city (not named, but Gloucester if you are interested).

The book tells the story of an unnamed girl who we meet as she is struggling to survive on the city streets as winter does its best to make living outside impossible and lethal. It is, as Claire Fuller notes on the front cover, ”carefully observed and deeply moving”. It is the kind of book where I don’t want to say anything more about the story because I want everyone to read it for themselves and uncover it for themselves as they read. I will say that the book splits into two halves when our protagonist leaves the city and, at this point, the writing changes. The action moves to a location just up the road from my house (the Cotswolds - the town I live in is often called the “Gateway to the Cotswolds” although, as a resident, I have to say I think that is pushing things a bit). The contrast between the urban and the rural almost makes you think you have switched to a different book, but it doesn’t jar because of that.

But what I do want to say is that with this book you actually get two stories and it is very, very clever. In your hand, you hold a 173-page story about a homeless girl whose life is changed by an unexpected act of kindness. It is beautifully written and a compulsive read. However, by the time you get to the end of the book, you will actually have two stories in your head and the way Carrasco tells you the second story without actually telling you the second story is remarkable. You, the reader, tell yourself the second story and, if you are like me, it will be fully formed in your imagination when you close the book even though you have only touched on it a handful of times in the words you have read. And the contrast between the two stories is perhaps even more “deeply moving” than the stories themselves. This second story is perhaps the ultimate in “show don’t tell”.

I could write a lot more about this book because I really enjoyed reading it. It’s been a while since I stayed up late into the night to finish a book before going to bed and I do love it when a book makes me do that.

(This is actually the fifth book I have read from époque press and they have all been excellent books. So much so that I recently ordered 3 more of their books plus a second copy of What Willow Says to give to a friend. I am fairly confident I will complete the set soon after reading the three I just received).

[Dawn A Denton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is remarkable in its style. Firstly, it's written in the present tense. And secondly it focuses on ‘show and not tell’. The lack of emotive and colourful adjectives, provides the reader with clarity and incredible detail. The story and not the text, becomes the focus and thus the reader creates their own emotions and reactions to circumstances. This also means that the writer does not direct how the reader feels about the character or her situation. You, thee reader, becomes the ‘director’ of the story. You choose how you feel at each part of the journey.

The book is about a young girl in her early 20s living on the streets. You don't know her name, and you don’t know why she is there. But her day-to-day experiences, through a rough winter, gives you a real insight into what it must be like to be alone, fending for yourself, but with some pride. The girl does not dwell on her situation – she just exists.

The writers explores her relationships too. They are all of different levels of vulnerability. Some connections are superficial and some are a real indication of what it must be like to feel so isolated, dirty and unseen.

This is a powerful story as it is all about the present. It is not depressing, but more ‘matter of fact’ in its nature. Towards the end I really couldn’t put it down. I was desperate to see what's going to happen.

I give this book five stars, wholeheartedly. It is an inspirational read. Although we may not have been homeless, we can all see our own journey in the journey of the girl in the book.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can’t really describe a novel about surviving urban homelessness during a rough winter as “a quiet, gentle read” yet that’s how Carrasco’s prose leads me to feel. Probably it’s a product of his plain spoken, matter of fact style plus all the landscape descriptions as the story moves out of the urban center into the small outlying village in its latter half, a move mirroring a change in the tone from grey hopelessness to a color-filled new start.

“The girl” is how the protagonist of the story is known, which makes me two-for-two in reading époque press books with de-named central characters. Carrasco isn’t concerned with describing how she got here but with how she survives and the focus is on the practicalities thereof. She is skillfully humanized through personal characteristics like a love of tea and her possession of a bracelet she takes great care to ensure the safety of, which clearly means a lot to her and the story of which, like the rest of her history, can only be filled in by the reader’s imagination.

The story turns when the girl leaves the city for a nearby touristy sort of village. The spark for this movement is produced by a combination of events one night, the first of which is a dream and which embodies some of the landscape description, full of colors in contrast to the city, mentioned above:

That night she dreams of open country. She walks along a narrow road under a high afternoon sun that hides behind thick, foamy clouds. The hedgerows are fat with green summer leaf and the rocking pink buttons of wild flowers. To her left a field of yellow wheat stretches away, rippling in the breeze and the dark shadows of the clouds pass through it like ships. To her right runs a wooden fence and the pastureland behind it. This place seems known to her but she wouldn’t be able to explain how. Horses stand in the field and nicker to each other as she passes. She uproots a clump of grass and shakes it at them but they only stand and stare.

When the numbness in her shoulder brings her back to the sepulchral dark of the alley, she twists in the sack and wills herself back to the dream.

During the latter half of the novel I was thinking of the similarities it bore to Kent Haruf. A plain unadorned style, emphasis on a description of activities over description of internal psychological states (we never see the girl trying to mentally deal with whatever family trauma she faced), a focus on ordinary people and portraying life as it is actually lived. It’s the sort of realism that is not so fashionable in literary fiction but can be a nice change of pace for a reader of it.

She stands under the head with her face into the jet and lets the hot torrent rush upon her hair and skin and swaddle her in its purifying, protective energy. People shower every day, she thinks, but don’t know what it is to be dirty. She washes and conditions her hair and fingers a gritty scrub into her nose and cheeks and stands and lets the water wash away the sticky memory of alleyways and dusty sheds and grimy sleeping sacks. She takes a plastic safety razor from a tray and glides it up her legs and raises her hands to take it underneath her arms and then brushes her teeth slowly. Her fingers wrinkle and she picks beneath her nails. She stands there for a long time.

Stands there thinking of… well, we don’t know. That’s not in Carrasco’s project. His project is the application of a plain realism to the situation of a young woman dealing with homelessness, while avoiding sentimentality. I enjoyed the read.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a book is described by Claire Fuller, author of the Costa Award winning Unsettled Ground, as a ‘carefully observed and deeply moving story’ and its author is described as ‘a wonderful writer’ by Sharon Duggal, author of Should We Fall Behind, you know you’re in for something special.

At first sight, Ghosts of Spring is very different from the author’s previous novel, El Hacho. It’s a story about urban homelessness and the day-to-day challenges of living on the streets told from the point of view of one young woman. We never learn her name or what precisely has occurred in her life to bring her to the point where she is alone and homeless. What we do know is it’s cold, bleak and winter is coming with a vengeance. We live alongside her as she struggles through each day, rummaging through charity bags for clothing to help withstand the cold or begging for change so she can buy a cup of tea, all the time guarding her meagre possessions from being stolen. The level of detail is extraordinary even down to the practicalities of dealing with menstruation.

The book is unflinching in its depiction of the plight of those forced to live on the streets, how they become seemingly invisible to the rest of society. ‘Hidden in plain sight amongst them, in nooks and doorways and sitting with heads hanging against cold stone walls are huddled shapes, blanketed and inert… Ghosts of flesh, they are here and everywhere and nobody sees a thing’. Just as the girl is nameless so are the other street dwellers she encounters, known only by the monikers she has given them – ‘Tiger-Beard’, ‘Shouts-A-Lot’ or ‘Lives-In-A-Tent’.

The girl’s experiences have forced her to develop ‘gnarly protective instincts’ and to trust no-one. The exception is Suni, a woman in a similarly vulnerable position but who is at least able to offer the girl a meal from time to time. When a series of events occur that starkly illustrate the dangers of life on the streets, for women in particular, the girl leaves the city without much idea of her destination. She arrives in the picture postcard village of Burford, thinking there may be rich pickings from the tourists who flock there.

Initially, the girl finds herself just as invisible as she did in the city until a random act of kindness changes everything. She is introduced to the beauty of the natural world exploring a very different landscape to the grim one she left behind. ‘She looks up over the fields to a fleet of sculpted white clouds running across the swathe of blue sky.’ We learn that generosity does exist in the world and there is the possibility of a different future.

I was one of the legion of fans of Luis Carrasco’s first novel El Hacho. It’s a skill to be able to pack so much into a relatively short book but, in Ghosts of Spring, he has managed it again. The book pulls no punches in its depiction of the daily experience of homelessness but it is, ultimately, a story of hope and the resilience of the human spirit.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carrasco’s second novella takes an intimate journey with a young woman who sleeps rough on the streets of a city in the west of England (Cheltenham? Gloucester?). Elemental concerns guide her existence: where can she shelter for the night? Where can she store her meagre belongings during the day? Does she have enough coins to buy a cup of tea from a café, and how long can she stretch out one drink so she can stay in the warm? The creeping advance of the winter (and the holiday season) sets up an updated Christmas Carol type of scenario where the have-nots are mostly invisible to the haves but rely on their charity:

Hidden in plain sight amongst them, in nooks and doorways and sitting with heads hanging against cold stone walls are huddled shapes, blanketed and inert, with faces of indifferent boredom. Too cold to fish for cash and pity[,] they sit with their faces wrapped in dirty scarves and stolen hats, working the empty corners of tobacco pouches and sucking cold coffee from yesterday’s cups. Ghosts of flesh, they are here and everywhere and nobody sees a thing.

With no speech marks, the narrative flows easily between dialogue and a third-person limited point of view. The protagonist, generally just called “the girl,” is friends with a group of prostitutes and tries out a night in a homeless hostel and sleeping in an allotment shed when she takes a bus to the suburbs. Carrasco is attentive to the everyday challenges she faces, such as while menstruating. We get hints of the family issues that drove her away, but also follow her into a new opportunity.

The book has an eye to her promising future but also bears in mind the worst that can happen to those who don’t escape poverty and abuse. At times underpowered, at others overwritten (as I found for my only other époque press read, What Willow Says), this succeeds as a compassionate portrait of extreme circumstances, something I always appreciate in fiction, and would make a good pairing with another story of homelessness, Kerstin Hensel’s Dance by the Canal from Peirene Press.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empathetic and Immersive
Review of the époque press paperback edition (March 24, 2022)

Luis Carrasco's nameless protagonist in Ghosts of Spring is a homeless young woman sleeping rough on urban streets in a bitter cold winter in northern England. What might be expected to be a despairing tale, becomes an inspiring journey towards a possible future life of hope and home. Too much information would be a spoiler, so all I really want to say is that this is superbly empathetic writing which carries you along through all of the ups and downs of the character's path with a sensitive and non-exploitative touch. Yes, there are moments of loss and sadness, but the character's own sense of self-worth and purpose, the occasional bonds of friendship and sometimes the good works of strangers constantly drive her and the reader onwards in a compelling and compassionate tale.

I read Ghosts of Spring as the February 2022 selection from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month (BotM) club. Subscriptions to the BotM support the annual Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers.

[Bob Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry from Luis Carrasco, this one follows the plight of a homeless girl somewhere in England from sleeping on the sidewalks in the snow to maybe, eventually, hopefully, a job and an apartment. The story again seems rather simple but the writing is what elevates the narrative, Carrasco is an excellent writer that makes his writing seem effortless and inevitable. Wonderful writer. It took so long because the book was lost in my house for a couple of weeks.

[LindaJ^ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carrasco's El Hacho sat on my shelf for a few years but then I needed a small book to fill a short time for reading and I read it in June. I loved it and when I looked to see what else the author had written, I found Ghosts of Spring had just been published. This one also had a beautiful tree on the cover so I ordered from the publisher - Epocque Press, a small, independent publisher. It arrived quicker than I thought it would. I tossed it into my backpack and headed to the airport. When I arrived at my destination six hours later, I had finished the book. It was as well-written as El Hacho but completely different.

Ghosts of Spring concerns homelessness. The unnamed protagonist is a teenage girl living on the street in some UK city. She tells us the minutia of her day-to-day life -- where she hides her "mat" (a piece of cardboard she sleeps on), how she picks the spot where she will beg, how she handles menstruation, how she comes up with names for other homeless folk she encounters, how she prepares for the quickly coming cold weather, and more. On one particularly frigid morning, we ride with on the bus, where she warms up and sleeps and finds a place that might provide an answer for her. She has a close call at a shelter that she only spent one night and an unpleasant experience in an alley when she's asleep. the girl has a friend named Suni who is a prostitute who helps her when she can, but Suni's story is perhaps even sadder than the girl's.

The girl tells her story in simple, uncomplicated way -- no apologies, no requests for pity. The reason the girl chose to leave home eventually comes out. It is not what you will think it is. But her story is not the key to the story. The girl gets some unexpected help in a way that allows her to maintain her dignity. Her story ends on a somewhat hopeful not.

I will keep my eyes open for this author's work. He is the real deal.

[Milena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not like the writing at first, but when I got more familiar, I enjoyed it very much. Tough, but very charming. Will be reading more from this author!

[G Batts · Rating 3 out of 5]

On my female-perspective-by-a male-author bingo card, I got:

- protagonist with a tough exterior but gooey and pure centre
- sex workers
- scene where a female appraises her naked body in the mirror
- extreme violence on a female body (bonus points for being unnecessary).

I bristled against the sentimentality of the prose for the first half of the novel and actually came quite close to abandoning it. I’m glad I held on. The second half is gentle up-lit with a lovely cast of characters and comforting like a warm cup of tea.

By the end of the novel, it becomes a bit awkward that the main character is still anonymous. I really wish the final paragraph was her revealing her name and the meaning of the bracelet. The ending we get feels clichéd.

[Emmie Ashmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore the language, as it takes my frantic head to a clear journey, with every part seemingly natural, yet so linked to the narrative. From a flayed toothbrush alone, I can tell how much the girl cherishes her things, or how little she has — so much is implied so fluently. It has so much colour and stays grounded in a human, gut-wrenching trip through the life of houseless people. They have a home, but not a house.

The ending was abrupt and I wish there was more. But, it works for what it is. An amazing book!

[Naomi Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. Different from what I would usually pick up. But I enjoyed the writing style, and the story was an interesting one.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A q

[Anne McLoughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This hidden gem of a book I will never forget – I couldn’t leave it down.
I’d never heard of this writer, but I’ll certainly be reading his others.
Tough subject, very moving and beautiful writing. I savoured every word and every description.
I could feel the hardship of the life of the young homeless girl to my very bones. Even the harshness of sleeping rough in snowy conditions was so beautifully crafted that you were there with her trying to warm her.
The occasional kindnesses of some people helped her survive and the goodness of two particular characters that she happened upon would restore anyone’s faith in humanity.
The reason for her being homeless was only hinted at, but I hope the author considers another book, looking back at her previous life and perhaps also John’s and Nancy’s.

[6ykmapk · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Dan Peterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sappy bullshit

[Hannah McDougall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, modern, real and gritty without being overdone.