Q&A with Marie McGaha Author of 'Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain' #Q&A

 

Marie McGaha is an award-winning writer whose work includes clean historical romances, Christian devotionals, and heartfelt children’s books. A storyteller at her core, she weaves faith, resilience, and gentle humor through every page she writes.

 

She makes her home in southeast Oklahoma, in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, where life is anything but quiet. Her days are shared with four spoiled dogs, a crippled rooster with more attitude than feathers, a noisy guinea who believes it runs the place, a couple of flighty hens, and a watchful roo who keeps an eye on everything that moves. This lively little farm—equal parts sanctuary and circus—provides endless inspiration, companionship, and the kind of grounding only God’s creation can offer.

 

Whether she’s crafting a tender love story, guiding readers through Scripture, or bringing the Bible to life for children through animal characters, Marie writes with a voice shaped by faith, loss, healing, and the stubborn hope that refuses to let go. Her work reflects the heart of a woman who has walked through fire and come out carrying stories worth telling.

 

You can also join her for daily devotionals on YouTube at @HeReignsChurch, where she shares encouragement, Scripture, and the steady reminder that hope is still alive. You can contact her by email: church.hereigns@gmail.com. 

 

Marie’s latest book is Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain.

 

Visit her blog at authormariemcgaha.blogspot.com. 

 

Connect with her on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorMarieMcGaha

╰┈➤ LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/mariemcgaha 

 

 

Can you tell us about your creative process for writing your new book  Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain? How did you come up with the idea to turn it into a book? 

 

My husband died in November 2021 and my world came apart. Over the weeks, months, and years I began writing down all the things I felt and what I was going through. The result was 600 pages of pain, grief, anger, prayers and pure insanity. I began reading it, then editing it, and a book was born.

 

Which specific chapter or scene was the hardest for you to write, and why? 

 

All of it. I bawled while reading it, while editing it, through the whole process it was reliving the love of my life’s death. Some days I could only work on a couple of pages, and other days, I couldn’t even look at it.

 

What is the primary emotional truth you want readers to take away? 

 

Losing your spouse, your life partner, the one who made the world make sense is the hardest thing we can go through and even when it feels like you’re not going to survive, you will. One day, one moment, one breath at a time.

 

How has completing this book changed you as a writer or a person?

 

The book didn’t change me, losing my husband did. The book is just an extension of grief that I hope will help someone else.

 

How did you decide what secrets or details were too private to share with the world?   

 

When you’re a writer, there really are no secrets. Even in fiction, you still bare a part of yourself in your work. In this book, I laid my soul bare and hid nothing. It’s raw, it’s personal, and it’s honest.

 

Were there any memories you recalled during the writing process that you had completely repressed?

 

All of it. I bawled through the entire process. It also brought to mind the love we had, the things we shared—like watching a movie of the past 30 years. The pain is still raw and I miss him so much.

 

 

Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain is a searing, faith-anchored memoir of love, loss, and the long road back to oneself. When Marie’s husband dies without warning, her world fractures in an instant, leaving her to navigate the brutal, unfiltered landscape of grief. In the quiet of an empty house and the chaos of a shattered heart, she wrestles with God, memory, and the haunting presence of the man she can no longer touch but cannot let go.

Told with unflinching honesty and spiritual depth, Your Ghost traces the intimate, day-by-day unraveling and rebuilding of a woman who refuses to let tragedy define the rest of her life. As she confronts guilt, loneliness, anger, and the strange moments when his nearness feels almost tangible, Marie discovers that grief is not a straight line but a sacred, winding path. What emerges is a story not only of devastation, but of resilience—a testament to enduring love, stubborn hope, and the quiet miracles that carry us forward when we think we cannot take another step.

╰┈➤Book Details

• Genre: Memoir
• Sub-genre: Survival Biographies
• Language:English
• Pages: 105
• Hardcover: 979-8252998060 

Your Ghost is available at Amazon.

╰┈➤Here’s What Readers Have To Say!

“You will feel every emotion, especially the pain, of losing your soulmate unexpectedly as you read this deeply spiritual journey of recovery. This kind of loss is painful, emotionally draining and physically crippling. Through every stage of grief, Ms. McGaha helps us understand how we can begin to breathe again and move forward. I cried, I felt her pain and rejoiced as the agony slowly began to leave. The best book I’ve ever read about grief and recovery. A must read for anyone experiencing the loss of a loved one. Also, it’s proof God is still beside us at our lowest point… (this is) a woman trying to hang onto life. A life that crashed and burned unexpectedly… very inspiring.” – Vicki L.

 

“A beautifully written, heart-wrenching examination of deep-held grief, Marie McGaha pulls the reader in with her dynamic and impactful imagery, compelling us to understand her tragedy—the caregiving and ultimate loss of the one love of her life, her husband, Nathan. The thoughts, the analysis, and the unfolding of this unwanted, unasked-for journey from a woman familiar with grief are, at times, more than one can bear. Yet the sheer poetry, interwoven with the Word of God, brings us fully into the author’s world with brilliance. Her deeply personal exploration of grief—from exhaustion, to numbness, to heightened awareness—is extraordinary, leaving the reader with a greater understanding of our own journeys through death and loss. This is a journey that, once entered, will not easily be forgotten—a powerful and necessary read for anyone who has known love and loss.” – Linda W.