SOLVED. Young dyslexic boy encounters ghost in Clydebank searching for something. Genre is drama, supernatural or young adult. Spoilers. [s]

[Sky]

I can't recall the exact year, only that I was in early high school years at the time. It was part of my English class (I'm Scottish, if that helps). Would've been somewhere around 2012-2015. I can't recall the author's name or the title, and I only remember the cover of the book showing a graveyard. I'm not 100% sure of the genre so I just had to guess from what elements were in the story. Hopefully someone knows the book I'm on about.

SPOILERS AHEAD












MORE STORY DETAILS: Dyslexic boy is the main character and from what I recall seems to be late primary school or early high school aged. The 'ghost' turns out to be the younger version of an elderly woman who survived the Clydebank Blitzkrieg bombings back in WW2, and I think she was searching for something. There was also a graveyard the boy visited, and something to do with a tree that's crucial to the ending of the story. One of boy's parents is neglectful, I think cause of an addiction (I know it was mentioned in the story, but I can't recall what exactly it was. All I can say is it was either smoking, drugs or alcohol.) I think the boy recently moved to Clydebank? I briefly recall something involving an action figure of some kind and a trampoline. I think whatever the girl was looking for was in some small, cardboard box buried under the tree mentioned earlier or in a grave?

[Capn]

Blitz Next Door? Only I can only find this cover for it, in spite of another edition out there.


Searchable:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL21107...

Yes for trampoline. Dunny, Peter, Elizabeth (Beth) Winters, Mr Milligan.

Page 124
I wish I could help you. Pete had snuggled under his duvet, making a tent of it so he could still look at the pages he’d just read. I could go outside and dig about the rubble. See if the box is still buried there. Yeah. And get Dunny to help me. Maybe a bit late tonight though. And dark.

Page 172
Pete knew that Beth Winters had no need to return. There were nights, though, when he held his breath and heard the notes of the ‘Skye Boat Song’ floating through the wall, played by his imagination.

[Sky]

Capn wrote: "Blitz Next Door? Only I can only find this cover for it, in spite of another edition out there.


Searchable:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL211..."

I think that's the one! Thank you so much!