CAN A PERSON HAUNT A GHOST?
Something about the old house on the hill has always intrigued artist Rebecca Bell, but she's always resisted its pull. Until now. She becomes obsessed with the building, its history, its inhabitants-and especially the little girl whose spirit seems to linger in the house and on its grounds.
Angelica has been waiting patiently for someone to notice her. For someone to befriend her. For someone to care. Even after her passing.
Meeting Rebecca is a boon for both of them.
But while Angelica thinks she's gaining a friend, Rebecca … well, Rebecca is gaining a muse.
Will the two of them come to an understanding, or will the dark history at the heart of Pixerina's decayed foundations repeat itself?
Joanne Anderton is an Australian author of speculative fiction, creative non-fiction, and children's books.
Her speculative fiction includes the novels in the Veiled Worlds series – Debris, Suited and Guardian – and the short story collections The Art of Broken Things, Inanimates: Tales of Everyday Fear, and The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories.
She has won multiple awards for her speculative fiction, including the Australian Shadows Award, Ditmar and Aurealis Awards. Her short fiction has been reprinted in several Year's Best anthologies, and she's received international review coverage in The New York Journal of Books, The Guardian, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.
Her children's picture book The Flying Optometrist, was published by the National Library of Australia and was a CBCA notable book. Her non-fiction has been published in Speculative Insight, Island Magazine, Meanjin and The Japan News.
Joanne has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing, worked for many years in book publishing, marketing and distribution, and until recently taught English in rural Japan. She has completed a PhD in Creative Writing at The University of Queensland, writing speculative fiction memoir about her time living and working in Japan. "Pixerina flirts with the dark heart of art and self. A suburban gothic exploration of ghosts and broken girls, and timelines twined around each other like DNA strands are the only things holding the world together. Beautifully, gently haunting."
