A trans woman discovers pornography of herself she has no memory of making, only to find herself led to an unimaginably deeper evil.
"The year's great work of literary horror." —Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt
"Sharp and fearless." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The most stomach-churning, upsetting, thoroughly cursèd queer book of the year." —Alison Rumfitt, author of Tell Me I'm Worthless and Brainwyrms
A feral shut-in discovers a disturbing internet porn video of what seems to be herself. A seance of coked-up artists summons unearthly forces in a studio apartment. The staircase of an exurban marketing company descends endlessly beneath the earth.
In Aoife Josie Clements’ electric, nightmarish, intricately layered novel, the impossibility of goodness crowds in upon two young trans women barely surviving on sex work and zero-hours contracts. Below the familiar evils of capitalism and the bottomless depths of internet culture, a darker horror awaits. What curse follows these women? What are they escaping? What are they running towards?
Genre: Horror
"The year's great work of literary horror." —Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt
"Sharp and fearless." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The most stomach-churning, upsetting, thoroughly cursèd queer book of the year." —Alison Rumfitt, author of Tell Me I'm Worthless and Brainwyrms
A feral shut-in discovers a disturbing internet porn video of what seems to be herself. A seance of coked-up artists summons unearthly forces in a studio apartment. The staircase of an exurban marketing company descends endlessly beneath the earth.
In Aoife Josie Clements’ electric, nightmarish, intricately layered novel, the impossibility of goodness crowds in upon two young trans women barely surviving on sex work and zero-hours contracts. Below the familiar evils of capitalism and the bottomless depths of internet culture, a darker horror awaits. What curse follows these women? What are they escaping? What are they running towards?
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"An astonishing debut, the Bergman allusion in the title is only the first clue as mysteries unfold and refold, entrapping the reader in a shifting, changing labyrinth of dread. I can't imagine I will read a better novel this year, it is just that brilliant." - David Demchuk
"This is the best book I've read in years. Clements walks onto the scene with the skill and confidence of an old master; Persona disgusts its reader past endurance, then breaks their heart before they realize what's happening. It brings together everything from the films of Ingmar Bergman to Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's a churning black spiral of misery, nausea, and anxiety, and woven through it all an infinitely fragile thread of human connection. Clements has written the year's great work of literary horror. This is not something to miss." - Gretchen Felker-Martin
"THIS BOOK IS ABOUT YOU! We are all doomed." - Sybil Lamb
"The most stomach-churning, upsetting, thoroughly cursed queer book of the year." - Alison Rumfitt
"All the walls secrete in this place, grime pulsing and sloughing away like so much sunburnt skin. Clements' prose is a fishhook laced cleanly through the thick flesh of the thumb - an old pain made unreal and vivid in the sputtering, intermittent, blue-lit blight of now. This is the good shit." - Andrew F Sullivan
"This is the best book I've read in years. Clements walks onto the scene with the skill and confidence of an old master; Persona disgusts its reader past endurance, then breaks their heart before they realize what's happening. It brings together everything from the films of Ingmar Bergman to Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's a churning black spiral of misery, nausea, and anxiety, and woven through it all an infinitely fragile thread of human connection. Clements has written the year's great work of literary horror. This is not something to miss." - Gretchen Felker-Martin
"THIS BOOK IS ABOUT YOU! We are all doomed." - Sybil Lamb
"The most stomach-churning, upsetting, thoroughly cursed queer book of the year." - Alison Rumfitt
"All the walls secrete in this place, grime pulsing and sloughing away like so much sunburnt skin. Clements' prose is a fishhook laced cleanly through the thick flesh of the thumb - an old pain made unreal and vivid in the sputtering, intermittent, blue-lit blight of now. This is the good shit." - Andrew F Sullivan
Used availability for Aoife Josie Clements's Persona