Cigarette Girl: A Girl, A Few Ghosts, and Their Long Journey Home

Cigarette Girl is a paranormal coming-of-age novel set during the Vietnam War era. In it, beleaguered Frances has a hard ass career Army father with no tolerance for a willful teenage daughter, but that’s exactly what he’s got. To endure the minefields of family conflict, evolving sexuality, the chaotic 1960s, and constant military relocation, Frances gets creative. With each move, she changes her name, her persona, and the way she holds a cigarette. An unusual guide is summoned that the emerging paranormal sensitive recognizes as her Aunt Mary, channeled through a 1939 Lafayette radio. When she discovers a hidden letter, a surreptitious truth is revealed, forcing her shame-filled mother to unearth a long buried secret. Directed to a haunted railroad track, Frances ultimately discovers the one thing that has always eluded her. She finds home.