''Laura's Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks'' is a 2020 book by Courtenay Stallings. The book explores the legacy of the fictional character

Laura Palmer Laura Palmer is a fictional character in the ''Twin Peaks'' franchise. She is portrayed by Sheryl Lee and was created by the series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost. She first appears in the ABC original series ''Twin Peaks''. A high schoo ...

, whose death was the precipitating event in the television show ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company, ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cance ...

. Laura's Ghost'' features interviews with and essays from women involved with ''Twin Peaks'' including

Sheryl Lee Sheryl Lynn Lee (born April 22, 1967) is a German-born American film, stage, and television actress. After studying acting in college, Lee relocated to Seattle, Washington to work in theater, where she was cast by David Lynch as Laura Palmer and ...

, who played Laura Palmer, as well as actress

Grace Zabriskie Grace Zabriskie (' Caplinger; born May 17, 1941) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sarah Palmer in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), Lois Henrickson in '' ...

, and

Jennifer Lynch Jennifer Chambers Lynch (born April 7, 1968) is an American filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker David Lynch, she made her directorial debut with the film '' Boxing Helena'' in 1993. Following a troubled production, the film was a critical and co ...

, daughter of the series’ director

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

Content

''Laura's Ghost'' is an anthology of essays and interviews on the subject of

, a fictional character whose death sparked the events of the television show, ''

''. Her body was found, wrapped in plastic, eight minutes into the series premiere and leads to the series' primary question, "Who killed Laura Palmer?". Laura begins the series as an idyllic American teenager, but, as the series progresses, Laura is revealed to have been a sex worker and involved in drug trafficking. ''Twin Peaks'' and, most explicitly, the 1992 film, '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' reveal Laura also experienced sexual abuse at the hands of her

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

, who murdered her and was possessed by an incorporeal evil spirit. Contributors and interviewees to ''Laura's Ghost'' were women involved in the production of ''Twin Peaks'' including

, who played Laura Palmer (as well as her cousin,

Maddy Ferguson Madeleine "Maddy" Ferguson is a fictional character in the ''Twin Peaks'' franchise. She was created by the series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost and portrayed by Sheryl Lee. Introduced in the fourth episode of the first season, Maddy is t ...

);

, who played Laura's mother, Sarah Palmer;

Sabrina S. Sutherland Sabrina S. Sutherland is an American film producer, best known for her work with David Lynch. Career Sutherland is known for being the long-time producing partner of David Lynch and for her work on ''Twin Peaks'' (1990), ''Inland Empire (film), ...

, a producer on the show; and

, author of ''

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer ''The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer'' is a 1990 spin-off novel from the television series ''Twin Peaks'' by Jennifer Lynch. Lynch, then aged 22, is the daughter of series co-creator David Lynch. It was published between the airing of the first and ...

'' and daughter of

. The book also includes an essay from writer and film critic Willow Catelyn Maclay and interviews with fans of ''Twin Peaks'' including Sezín Koehler and Mya McBriar, author of the ''Twin Peaks Fanatic'' blog. ''Laura's Ghost'' includes an essay by Samantha Weisberg about the life and death of her friend, therapist, writer, and ''Twin Peaks'' fan, Amie Harwick. The book examines Laura Palmer's place in the ''Twin Peaks'' franchise and centres female experience in exploring the legacy of Laura Palmer. It includes explicit discussions of the franchise's depictions of sexual abuse, particularly in ''Twin Peaks'' and '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me''.

Development

Stallings began working on ''Laura's Ghost'' in 2016. She cites

Roxane Gay Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling essay collection ''Bad Feminist'' (2014), as well as the short story collection ''Ayiti ...

as one of the book's influences. Stallings almost finished her first draft of the book in February 2020. Weisberg's essay on Amie Harwick was one of the last contributions to the book. Stallings says she "didn't set out looking for stories of trauma" in writing ''Laura's Ghost'' and compiling the interviews for it, but she found that, in discussing Laura Palmer, many fans shared their real-life traumatic experiences. In choosing the book's cover image, Stallings was insistent that the image not be of Laura dead. Instead, the book's cover features a still from ''Twin Peaks'' of Laura in a flashback, before her character was murdered.

Publication

''Laura's Ghost'' was first published in 2020 by Fayetteville Mafia Press. A portion of the proceeds from the first edition were donated to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN).

Awards and nominations

References

{{Twin Peaks Books based on Twin Peaks 2020 non-fiction books English-language books