{"title":"Books by Adele Bertei","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781736309339","title":"Twist","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom iconoclastic writer and musician Adele Bertei comes a wholly original hero's journey that wages war on the cliché of the “misery memoir.” Set in a 1960s and ’70s American neighborhood rife with poverty and violence, fatherless Irish mothers and Italian mobsters, and women crucified into madness by misogyny, Bertei speaks through her electrically alive avatar Maddie Twist to flip the victim script.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBertei reveals what it's like to be a queer teen at a time when discovery could be fatal. Maddie peers deeply into the American psyche, refusing to consent to the systems of harm. A compelling personal history of queer culture from a working-class view and a glimpse into worlds yet unseen, Twist is good medicine: for readers who've experienced similar traumas, for teens caught in the foster care system, for the formerly incarcerated looking for hope, for writers grappling with how to tell their own stories.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685710111093,"sku":"9798988670049","price":15.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43128583028914,"sku":"9781736309339","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9798988670049.jpg?v=1792598869"},{"product_id":"9798765106914","title":"Sinead O’Connor's Universal Mother","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith \u003ci\u003eUniversal Mother\u003c\/i\u003e, Sinead O’Connor explores childhood trauma and her experiences as a woman, mother, target of scorn, and ultimate phoenix.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReleased in the winter of 1994, \u003ci\u003eUniversal \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eMother \u003c\/i\u003ewas the first recorded work from O’Connor since her duo of protests in 1992 (\u003ci\u003eSaturday Night  Live\u003c\/i\u003e, Madison Square Garden). The sadistic blowback she faced for publicly outing the child abuse  of the Catholic Church and its cover-up would have destroyed most. Where Sinead might go next, or if she’d ever record again, was the question. It’s a testament to her integrity and extraordinary courage that she was able to resurrect with this extraordinary album. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album takes us on a deeply personal, yet universal journey of womanhood, from the archetypal bad mother to the good and the kind. A feminist statement from Germaine Greer sets the tone,  followed by O’Connor letting loose a storm of rage against her abusive mother in “Fire on Bablyon”—a salvo so explosive, it need not be repeated. Other than a song called “Red Football” and a  call-out of the truth behind the Irish potato famine, O’Connor is not interested in rage or  revenge. With \u003ci\u003eUniversal Mother\u003c\/i\u003e, she offers us a tender, evocative collection of grief and empathy in song. Her miraculous voice is the vessel—the broken, sacred voice of Mother Ireland.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56310834692469,"sku":"9798765106914","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9798765106914_057577eb-67cc-4910-8dd3-99b62b8a9d91.jpg?v=1786032955"},{"product_id":"9780571386154","title":"No New York","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book of 2026\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Essential reading for anyone with even a passing interest in alternative music' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'[An] electrifying account of downtown demi-monde days' Irish Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Exhilarating' \u003ci\u003eMojo 4****\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1975 a young queer singer from Cleveland meets photographer Nan Goldin — an encounter that will lead them to New York's bombed-out downtown, where something unprecedented is brewing. At Max's Kansas City and CBGBs, in derelict lofts and underground clubs, a generation of visionary women artists is rewriting the rules of creativity, sexuality, and power.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAdele Bertei didn't just witness the No Wave explosion—she ignited it. As acetone organist for the Contortions and Brian Eno's assistant, she was at the epicenter when punk collided with post-punk, birthing a counterculture that fused music, art, cinema, fashion and outlaw literature into an uncompromising explosion of creativity. While mainstream culture wallowed in sexism and homophobia, these artists and more created something fluid, fierce, and transgressive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRaw, gripping, and illustrated with rare photographs from personal collections, \u003ci\u003eNo New York\u003c\/i\u003e is the definitive insider's account of the women who obliterated every barrier in their path, taking you deep into the artistic and sexual experimentation of an era when true expression mattered more than money or fame.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56368067051893,"sku":"9780571386154","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571386154_d13eae29-9b44-4994-a9ee-44ba5c82bda3.jpg?v=1786014554"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-adele-bertei.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}