‘A book you’ll read in a thrilling rush and then think about for months’ – Emily Maguire Jeff is dying. Haunted by memories and grappling with the shame of his desires, he runs away to remote Scotland with a piece of experimental tech that allows him to enter the mind of someone in the past. Instructed to only use it three times, Jeff – self-indulgent, isolated and deteriorating – ignores this advice. In the late 1860s, Leonora lives a contented life in the Scottish Highlands, surrounded by nature, her hands and mind kept busy. Contemplating her future and the social conventions that bind her, a secret romantic friendship with the local laird is interrupted when her father sends her to stay with her aunt in Edinburgh – an intimidating, sooty city; the place where her mother perished. But Leonora’s ability to embrace her new life is shadowed by a dark presence that begins to lurk behind her eyes, and strange visions that bear no resemblance to anything she has ever seen or known… A Superior Spectre is a highly accomplished debut novel about our capacity for curiosity, and our dangerous entitlement to it, and reminds us the scariest ghosts aren’t those that go bump in the night, but those that are born and create a place for themselves in the human soul. Shorlisted: MUD Literary Prize for a literary debut novel Shortlisted: Australian Book Industry Award, Best Adult Book from a Small Press Shortlisted: Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel Shortlisted: Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction Shortlisted: Saltire Society Literary Awards First Book Award ‘This is one of those rare books that penetrates deep into the reader’s most secret self. Read it and hold it close.’ – The Saturday Paper ‘[A] hugely impressive debut novel: imaginative and original, erotic and a little bit magical.’ – The Herald Scotland ‘This exquisite novel invites the reader to face the ghosts that haunt the dark corridors of the mind.’ – Justine Hyde, Kill Your Darlings ‘Unique, rich and incredibly sensual… Clever, convincing and unputdownable…’ – Karen Brooks ‘If you care about the future of Australian fiction, look no further.’ – Readings ‘Weighty themes of lust, shame and the power of the male gaze are beautifully balanced by a moving narrative…’ – The Daily Mail (UK) ‘A Superior Spectre [provides] an opportunity to acknowledge what reading does to us and for us.’ – Craig Hildebrand ‘Put simply, this book is superb.’ – Helen Valentina