‘One of the most original,
amazing stories I've ever read.' Mary Gaitskill

Iconic rock-and-roll musician Adele Bertei’s memoir Twist is her harrowing and electric story of transforming trauma through art, pluck, and imagination, as told through the inimitable voice of her young alter ego, Maddie Twist.

A Letter from Adele Bertei

Maddie Twist is my avatar, a trojan horse of a name created to travel back through a rough childhood. While revisiting the war zones of my youth, I needed that armor, but using a character name does not render Twist a book of fiction. It worked best for me, writing as Maddie in the present tense—as the girl wrestling with what it means to be human.

'That music was an invocation to survive, and to believe something better waited to be revealed.'

My mother possessed a wild imagination. Schizophrenia was her escape from the expectations of motherhood and of being a woman in the soul-killing working-class suburban life of the 1960s. She was no Donna Reed—more like the Three Faces of Eve! She helped me believe in things I couldn’t see, which proved to be a tool I’d use to detach from trauma. And I was fortunate to have been raised in the venue of 1960s and 1970s popular music. That music was an invocation to survive, and to believe something better waited to be revealed.

'Many ghosts appear throughout my books. Ghosts love people. And I love dancing with ghosts.'

I recount the story of [my band] the Wolves and Cleveland’s legendary Peter Laughner in my first published memoir, Peter and the Wolves. It’s the bridge book, number two, in a trilogy of memoirs. Twist is the first, the origin story. My next book, No New York, will be third and last of the memoirs. Peter was my first musical mentor, and part of my vocation was to pay tribute to a man whose character I felt was being misrepresented. Many ghosts appear throughout my books. Ghosts love people. And I love dancing with ghosts.

Adele Bertei, 2023

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Adele Bertei began playing music in Cleveland with Pere Ubu’s legendary Peter Laughner, and as an original member of the Contortions, produced by Brian Eno on No New York. She was the pioneering creator of The Bloods—the first out, queer, all-women-rock band. Her singing and songwriting career includes recording, performing live, and writing for such diverse acts as Thomas Dolby, Tears for Fears, Culture Club, Whitney Houston, Scritti Politti, Sheena Easton, Jellybean Benitez, Lydia Lunch, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, the Pointer Sisters, and John Lurie. She is the author of two previous books: Peter and the Wolves (a memoir) and Why Labelle Matters, a finalist for the 2022 Lambda Literary Awards. Twist: An American Girl is her origin story.

ZE Books publishes extraordinary literary and visual works by groundbreaking writers, artists, and musicians. Committed to nurturing and championing uncommon talent and voices, ZE Books brings out remarkable, beautifully produced books by exceptional writers, journalists, artists, musicians, and thinkers from around the world. Our titles span music, art, experimental writing, poetry, fiction, memoir, and more.

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