Ghost Coach

In a small Mormon farming town in 1950s Idaho, skinny, likable Lyle Sperry gets cut from the high school basketball team—until Belva Lowry, the reclusive, widowed English teacher who once coached alongside her late husband, takes him to her barn and teaches him the game. Told through many voices and building toward a championship showdown with rival Paul, this warm, gently humorous novel is really about friendship, first love, loss, and how quickly things change.

• An overlooked farm boy is secretly coached to greatness by the last person anyone would expect—the reclusive widow who teaches English
• A basketball novel that's really about grief, first love, and how quickly everything changes
• Hoosiers meets small-town Mormon Idaho, told in a chorus of unforgettable voices
• A tender, clean read with an ending twist about who's been telling the story all along

Perfect for a reader who loves warm, small-town Americana and inspirational sports-and-mentor stories with clean content and a nostalgic mid-century feel.