Ghost knew they couldn’t keep hiding.
If her dads were in danger, she would be a guard cat.
Ghost listened for footsteps in the hallway.
She kept watch at the window.
On rainy day, Ghost spotted people in uniforms down below.
She meowed and meowed until her dads looked outside, too.
Rainer and Eka love each other very much, and they love their cat, Ghost. But even though their love seems to be uncomplicated at first, the fact that they live in Indonesia makes it much more complicated. As Eka and Rainer work to immigrate to Canada, there is no guarantee they will manage to find a new space to call home.
Told through the eyes of Ghost—a cat who is forced to follow his owners through a series of unexpected and tumultuous moves from place to place—the narrative examines the trials and tribulations of escaping a homophobic society in favour of one that will hopefully be more accepting. Both Eka and Rainer are attempting to find a new home where they can exist without discrimination and police violence.
Though brief in length, Stevenson’s direct and succinct prose complements the stylized, photographic images within the book. Although the “illustrations” lose some impact because of the fact that they are simply photoshopped photographs, the cat in and of itself, as the protagonist, will give youngsters a space from which to enter and connect with the narrative.
The world is changing, and Canada remains, at least in comparison to the global landscape, an LGBTQ safe space, and Ghost’s Journey plays a role in reinforcing this narrative for a positive purpose. If only more LGBTQ refugees had a Ghost to keep them company through the immigration process!
Rob Bittner has a PhD in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (Simon Fraser University), and is also a graduate of the MA in Children’s Literature program at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. He loves reading a wide range of literature, but particularly stories with diverse depictions of gender and sexuality.
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