Five Fast Tales (Disney/Pixar Cars)

The improbable life story of Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) included a peculiarly gothic childhood in Ireland during which he was successively abandoned by his mother, his father and his guardian; two decades in the United States, where he worked as a journalist and was sacked for marrying a former slave; and a long period in Japan, where he married a Japanese woman and wrote about Japanese society and aesthetics for a Western readership. His ghost stories, which were drawn from Japanese folklore and influenced by Buddhist beliefs, appeared in collections throughout the 1890s and 1900s. He is a much celebrated figure in Japan.

Anna Bright is the author of YA novels The Beholder, The Boundless, The Song That Moves the Sun, and The Hedgewitch of Foxhall. When not writing or working as an indie bookseller, she loves concerts, roller coasters, and adventures at home and abroad. Anna lives with her family in a charming corner of Washington, DC.