The Dead are Gods

An Oprah Daily Spring 2023 Reading List Pick

"...striking a deeply resonant chord for anyone who has experienced the obsessive self-searching that often accompanies a sudden loss." -- Oprah Daily

From an exciting new literary voice: a memoir that explores grief, Blackness, and recovery after the death of a dear friend.

After an unexpected phone call on an early morning in 2018, writer and model Eirinie Carson learned of her best friend Larissa’s death. In the wake of her shock, Eirinie attempts to make sense of the events leading up to Larissa’s death and uncovers startling secrets about her life in the process. 

THE DEAD ARE GODS is Eirinie’s striking, intimate, and profoundly moving depiction of life after a sudden loss. Amid navigating moments of intense grief, Eirinie is overwhelmed by her love for Larissa. She finds power in pulling moments of joy from the depths of her emotion. Eirinie’s portrayal of what love feels like after death bursts from the page alongside a timely, honest, and personal exploration of Black love and Black life.

Perhaps, Eirinie proposes, “The only way out is through.”

Eirinie Carson is a British/Jamaican writer living in California. She has half an English Lit degree from Queen Mary's University in East London and an acting/modeling career that spans decades and continents. She is a frequent contributor to Mother Magazine and writes about non romantic love, motherhood and loss. Published in the Sonora Review’s Fall 2022 edition, she most recently earned a place on the San Francisco Writers Grotto course Rooted and Written, a course tailored for Black and brown writers.