Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body (2011)

In Chapters 48-53, Martin focuses on his growing romance with Joanna, as their relationship progresses and their love accelerates. Martin tells Joanna that he is in love with her in Chapter 48, for instance, as he becomes increasingly convinced that he will someday marry her. As he writes, “over the years, I’d often heard people say that you know when you meet the right person, and now I understand what they meant. The feeling is unlike anything I’ve ever known” (204). In the next chapters, “Sugar and Salt” and “Falling,” Martin details the intricacies of their love, recognizing that their relationship will also invite its own set of adversity. The more serious their relationship became, the more Martin had the feeling that “some suspect our feelings are a fiction we are writing together without the inconvenience of mundane reality to ruin our plot” (206). Joanna’s friends’ reaction to their relationship doesn’t meet Joanna’s expectations, which is hurtful and frustrating to her. At this point, however, Martin and Joanna have still not met in person, which only makes their desire for each other grow stronger.

In Chapter 51, “Climbing,” Martin recounts an anecdote about a family holiday to Namibia, where Martin and his brother David climb together to the top of a sand dune, an accomplishment that is now so much sweeter to Martin because he has someone to tell the experience to later. In Chapter 52, “The Ticket,” Martin’s mother, Joan, is cautious in her response to Martin and Joanna’s relationship as she cites the risks of meeting someone online: “Kim had a friend who met someone on the Internet and thought she was completely in love with him […] But then she met the man and realized they had nothing in common. It happens a lot, I hear” (221). Despite Joan’s reservations, however, Martin books a plane ticket to the UK for a conference, where he’ll finally meet Joanna in person. This is the first time Martin will travel without his mother or father, so this represents a major milestone in his life. In Chapter 53, Martin and Joanna finally meet in London, and the two are elated. As Martin recalls their first meeting, he writes, “as I hold her for the first time, I realize that she smells of candy and flowers. I know that I will never let go of her again. I am home” (228).