Persona [Paperback]

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

CIBA Booksellers' List Winter Pick • AMs. MagazineMost Anticipated Feminist Book of 2026• Publishers WeeklyEditor’s Pick • ALit Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2026 •ReactorCan’t Miss Indie Press Spec Fic Book •AQuill & QuireSpring 2026 Fiction Preview Book • As seen in Dirt and the Toronto Star • AnAutostraddleMost Anticipated Queer Book for Jan 2026

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?

Disappointed that it had to come to this, the answer to my problem becomes obvious. It’s time to consult the Default Persona. I pull up the message board, sadder than normal to be there, and after getting distracted for a minute, baffled by some kid’s ranking of Radiohead’s discography, I open a new thread, simply the video embedded with ‘Source?’ as the thread title. Though I know it will get me my answer eventually, I know exactly what comes next and I can’t stop it.lÓc