American Ghost by Hannah Nordhaus
The award-winning journalist and author of The Beekeeper’s Lament attempts to uncover the truth about her great-great-grandmother, Julia–whose ghost is said to haunt an elegant hotel in Santa Fe in this spellbinding exploration of myth, family history, and the American West. The dark-eyed woman in the long black gown was first seen in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace. She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Vases of flowers appeared in new locations. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events: blankets ripped off while they slept, the room temperature plummeting, disembodied breathing, dancing balls of light. La Posada – “place of rest” had been a grand Santa Fe home before it was converted to a hotel. The room with the canopy bed had belonged to Julia Schuster Staab, the wife of the home’s original owner. She died in 1896, nearly a century before the hauntings were first reported. In American Ghost, Hannah Nordhaus traces the life, death, and unsettled afterlife of her great-great-grandmother Julia, from her childhood in Germany to her years in the American West with her Jewish merchant husband. American Ghost is a story of pioneer women and immigrants, ghost hunters and psychics, frontier fortitude and mental illness, imagination and lore. As she traces the strands of Julia’s life, Nordhaus uncovers a larger tale of how a true-life story becomes a ghost story and how difficult it can sometimes be to separate history and myth.
ISBN 9780062249203, Paperback
There are currently 12 members wishing for this book.
To enter, simply leave a comment on this Blog post. You must be a PaperBackSwap member in good standing to win.
We will choose 1 winner at random from comments we receive here on the Blog from PBS members.
You have until Sunday, February 24, 2019 at 12 noon EST, to leave a comment.
Good Luck to everyone!
Note: All the books given away on Free Book Friday are available in the PBS Market. We have thousands of new and new overstock titles available right now, with more added hourly. Some of the prices are amazing – and you can use a PBS credit to make the deal even better!
Tags: Book Suggestions, Contests, PBS Market
Sounds interesting I would love to win it
Count me in
Sounds like a great book!
oooh I enjoy a good ghost story!
This sounds like a wonderful story. I would love a chance to read it!
Wow this book sounds interesting. If I don’t win it I will be putting it on my wish list. I haven’t read this author before either but I like the summary and I always like a good ghost story. I was also stationed in Germany years ago and that element of the story interests me also.
OMMG this sounds so interesting. Would love to get one.
Me! Pick me!
I’ve been trying to expand my reading horizons and this book looks like a good candidate for that purpose 🙂
The two books I’m currently reading:
1) 9780143038252 (when I have chunks of time between errands on town days);
2) 9780470124161 (when I have uninterrupted quiet time at home).
I’ve gotten both books here at PBS, and I feel like they’ve been good book credit “investments”.
Another good PBS book on my Transaction Archive, that I finished towards year end 2018, was 9780060975845. That one took me a day to read and was chock full of inspiration. Enough to motivate me to review it. I sent it along to my brother’s girlfriend, who also enjoyed it, and shared it with her daughter.
Sounds like my type of book. Fingers crossed!
Sounds interesting to read… love mysteries and this sounds like a good one. Hope I win.
Really need a new book to start March!
Sounds like a great book!
Looks like a good read!
Yes, please, enter me…it sounds like an interesting read
love a good ghost story!
I heard this was a good book!
Wow, never knew this about La Posada!! Will definitely have to read this book!
sounds like an interesting story! would love to win this
I love this type of story. This is mainly what is read and watch on tv. Watched Tyler Henry last night. Also have watched other shows on the subject Like Dead Files , The Haunting of.., Theresa Caputo,Mama Medium.
Happy Friday! This would make a great weekend read.
Never been on the blog before but it looks like fun. The featured book sounds really interesting – family history, ghost story, everything a good read should have. Would love to read it.
Sounds like a book I would enjoy very much.
Wow!~! Sounds awesome with lots of spectral sightings..
Love a good ghost story!
This sounds like an interesting book to read.
A book based on fact about the American West and ghosts. Very intriguing! Sounds like a super good read.
I love historical autobiographies, especially when there is mystery involved! Hope I win.:-)
This sounds like a great book!
This book will transport me to an unfamiliar family history!
This sounds like a good read! I like the idea of combining genealogy with family history to find the truth in the stories and myths.
La Posada! Fabulous! I look forward to reading this book’s reach back into Santa Fe’s rich history!
Victoria
Hmmm… I’m intrigued…
Sounds like a good one!
I love a good ghost story~
Oh, I would love to win this!
BOO! This book is my genre 🙂
Sounds like a fantastic read!
I’m always looking for new authors to become obsessed with!
Keep trying. I would very much like to read this book. Here’s hoping I have a chance to win it. Sounds like my kind of read. Am currently reading a ghost story. It’s fun.
I would like to try a good ghost story.
would love to win!
I would love to have a copy of this one.
I’ve never entered one of these before, but, the book sounds great, and I love adding to my collection every chance I get (Especially authors that are new to me!).
want to win! Sounds good!
I aint afraid of no ghost
When I visit Santa Fe I stay at a lovely old hotel on the Plaza that is said to be haunted. Next time I go I will stand by the fireplace and look for the ghost. This sounds like a great read!
Ghost story – right up my alley.
Thanks for the contest.
Ok another great read!
I’m ready for a good ghost story!