Ghosts of the Imperial ~ Paperback ~ Amanda Crum

When Lucy Garside suddenly finds herself in a famous old movie theater, she wonders if the entire thing was a dream: her best friend asking her to run away with him, the Depression which crippled her nation, and even the illness which kept her bedridden for weeks. But dreams, though not the sole property of the living, don't often afflict the dead. And Lucy Garside is dead, a ghostly orphan at 19. The Imperial Theater welcomes her back with open arms, and while it was the place of her untimely death, she feels safe there. The afterlife--though not particularly dangerous--is a scary place. She's plagued with questions about why her family members never appear in the land of the dead, and what happened to her best friend--Ben--after his suicide. But what Lucy must learn, after three-quarters of a century, is that the land of the living is often much more horrifying. A handsome film star takes the focus off her family, however, as she is inexplicably drawn to him after seeing one of his movies at the theater. Tracking him down and finding out he can see and speak to the dead is just the beginning of Lucy's strange journey; falling in love with him and realizing she's in peril at the hands of his overzealous "number-one fan" and a self-taught witch is the rest. A potion that raises the dead, an angry and violent spirit who wants to be heard, and a crazed teen with her heart set on a movie star all play a part in Lucy's journey...and coming across an old friend after an epic battle proves to be more heartbreaking than happy coincidence.Author BiographyAmanda Crum is the author of The Fireman's Daughter and is also an artist working on a degree in Illustration. In 2008, she was awarded first place by WritingRoom for her short story Three Perfect Cigarettes. She currently works as a web journalist and lives with her husband and two children in Kentucky.