There's just one catch: Lisette is a ghost.Ī ghost with a deep, dark secret, and a serious score to settle.Īs Rebecca learns more from her ghost friend - and as she slowly learns to trust Anton Grey - she also uncovers startling truths about her own history. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda.

And at the snooty prep school, the filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. She's staying in a creepy old house with her aunt. She has taught creative writing at universities in the US and the UK, and is currently Fiction Writer-in-Residence at the University of Sheffield.Rebecca couldn't feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. and the US, including an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Paula has degrees from universities in New Zealand, the U.K. She is the editor of THE PENGUIN BOOK OF CONTEMPORARY NEW ZEALAND SHORT STORIES (2008).īoth HIBISCUS COAST and RUINED have been optioned for film. Paula's short stories have been widely published and broadcast in both New Zealand and the US, and her short story collection, Forbidden Cities (2008), was a regional finalist in the 2009 Commonwealth Prize. In 2013 she published her first children's book, HENE AND THE BURNING HARBOUR (Puffin New Zealand). RANGATIRA won best book of fiction at the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards and the Nga Kupu Ora Maori Book Awards. Paula is also the author of award-winning novels for adults, published by Penguin Books in her native New Zealand: QUEEN OF BEAUTY (2002) HIBISCUS COAST (2005) TRENDY BUT CASUAL (2007) and RANGATIRA (2011). She is the author of three novels for young adults, all published by Scholastic: RUINED, a mystery with a supernatural twist set in New Orleans DARK SOULS, a novel set in the ancient - and haunted - city of York, England and UNBROKEN, a sequel to RUINED. For ten years, she worked in London and New York, first as a publicist and marketing executive in the record business, and later as a branding consultant and advertising copywriter.

Paula Morris is a novelist and short story writer from New Zealand.

Ruined book paula morris