Jennie Erdal worked for nearly fifteen years for the flamboyant, extravagant, larger-than-life "Tiger," a London publisher, entrepreneur, and media personality. Officially, she was his personal editor. In truth, Erdal was his ghostwriter and alter ego. Under his name, she produced not only newspaper columns, business columns, and novels, but even love letters. In temperament, the two couldn't have been more different. Yet their relationship weathered storms of all kinds, from temper tantrums to serious financial reversals, with a tenacious bond that is both a wonder and an enigma.
With effortless grace, gentle erudition, and wry humour, Erdal shows us vivid snapshots of an austere childhood in Scotland and of the London publishing world, peopled by the elegant and the "Oxbridge"-educated. She introduces us to a thoughtful girl who found her passion in language and the magic of words, a passion that led her by a series of chance events to the publishing house, and the strange, wonderful, and never-dull world of the inimitable Tiger.
As original as it is elegant and witty, Ghosting is a remarkable memoir - more than just one woman's story, it is the tale of her double life, as well as a fascinating glimpse into the symbiotic relationship between two very unusual people. "Jennie Erdal's Ghosting is a HUGE treat. What a relationship! What a character!! And how well she tells that extraordinary story. I'd kill for an experience like that to write about, and she rises to it magnificently."
-Diana Athill, author of Stet
"Fascinating... Beautifully written... Very funny [and] psychologically complex."
-National Post
"Irresistible... Probing, intelligent and funny, Erdal's memoir should prove she'll never need to ghost-write again."
-Newsweek
"The entire book is fascinating but the chapters about ghostwriting a novel are both surreally funny and in some ways very unsettling... Erdal is a complex, intelligent personality... Ghosting is one of the oddest books currently around, but it's wonderful for that, and beautifully written."
-Irish Times
"An extraordinary and very funny story... Erdal has written a book that is hugely enjoyable to read"
-Spectator (UK)
"An unusually rich and entertaining memoir — hilarious, infuriating and unforgettable."
-The Telegraph (UK) Jennie Erdal worked as an editor, translator, and ghostwriter for many years. Ghosting is her first book published under her own name. She lives in St. Andrews, Scotland. Part One
A Meeting
So strange and exotic is he that he could be a rare tropical bird that you might never come face to face with, even in a lifetime spent in the rain forest. The plumage is a wonder to behold: a large sapphire in the lapel of a bold striped suit, a vivid silk tie so bright that it dazzles, and when he flaps his wings the lining of his jacket glints and glistens like a prism. He sees that I am startled and he smiles. He takes my hand in his and lays it on the silk lining. You want to touch? Go on, touch! It's best Chinese silk. I have only the best.
It is a lot to take in all at once. Under his suit he wears one pink sock, one green, two gold watches on his right arm, a platinum watch on his left, and on his fingers a collection of jewels: rubies, emeralds, diamonds. This is the jungle bird in human form - flamboyant, exaggerated, ornate - a creature whose baroque splendour surely has to be part of the male mating display. And yet the brightness of the eyes and the set of the smile give him an amused look that suggests a degree of self-parody. A touch of the court jester perhaps? Only perhaps, for nothing is yet sure. The head is large, in keeping with the frame, and the ears look as if they might have been an exuberant afterthought. The hair, dark and wiry, seems to be a separate entity, a thing apart. It perches on top like an eagle's nest.
It is a Saturday m
