High Aconite/An American Book of the Dead

Step into the darkroom of American myth-making with this mesmerising double feature from Kirsten Norrie

‘A magnificent piece of work, sung in an electrifying lyric voice’ Alan Moore

Two eras, two macabre tales, one obsession. Bound together in a stunning tête-bêche format, these surreal novels expose the dark power of the camera lens and the lengths some will go to make history on celluloid. From the glitz of the silent film era to the dust of the Wild West, inventing the perfect image can demand a heavy price.

In High Aconite, disturbed Darley Quinn and journalist Dean Brady investigate a town haunted by the on-screen suicides of five Silent Era stars, uncovering the ruthless conspiracy of a director obsessed with capturing death on film. 

In An American Book of the Dead, a strange visitor draws Kansas spirit photographer Eben Henry into a séance that conjures the half-manufactured legend of scalping survivor Robert McGee, whose image emerged out of desperate poverty and cheap showmanship.

Featuring a dispossessed cast of characters who embody spectacle and sideshow, this astonishing duo offers a brilliant exploration of the lies we capture on camera, and the ghosts we leave behind.

Praise for High Aconite:

‘In a muscle-car made of crackling language, Kirsten Norrie drives us through the fluorescent ruins of reality, where human narratives peel away in flakes of burning celluloid’ Alan Moore

‘High Aconite is hallucinogenic possession, summoning Louise Brooks by way of Djuna Barnes’ Iain Sinclair

Praise for An American Book of the Dead:

‘A transportive, deeply intelligent and richly unsettling book’ China Miéville

‘An ocean-crossing, stricture-defying masterpiece: flamboyant, bloody, piercing, rapturous, brutal, unforgettable’ Damian Le Bas

Hardback: XXXpp

Published: Wilton Square (May 2027) 

ISBN: 9781806771899