Ghosting: A Double Life

By Jennie Erdal

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 4, 2010
• ISBN: 9780385672474

Reviews for Ghosting

[wordsampersand · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved the prose, loved the tone, loved pretty much everything about this.

[lyzzybee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

(BookCrossing, 30 July 2011)As someone whose job it is to write for other people, on their terms and in their voices, a lot of the time, I was very interested to read this account of a ghost writer’s very heavy engagement with her craft. She ends up writing everything for her single client – letters, reviews, columns, non-fiction books … and then two novels! I now know where I, personally, would draw the line; I have been asked about writing fiction with people before, and I have turned them down – now I am committed to doing that! But as someone with more inside knowledge than presumably many of her readers, I did find her accounts of the process authentic and fascinating, and it would certainly prove interesting to anyone less aware of the processes and emotions. I would like to state here that I have never lounged by a pool with any of my clients, nor have I written the kind of material that will mean I have to release this book in the pub, and, sorry clients, but I’m not installing a fixed telephone line for any of you!