Praise for The Dead Are Gods:

  • "A deeply felt, searching examination of the feelings and memories provoked by the death of a best friend... Carson strikes a deeply resonant chord."

    Kirkus Review, Kirkus Starred Book

  • The Dead Are Gods is brilliant and beautiful. It’s a love letter, a time capsule and a celebration of the friendships that shape and save us, again and again. It will also no doubt be a light in the dark for the many of us who must also figure out how to navigate grief and proximity to death. A stunning, stunning debut.

    Beth Mccoll, author of How to Come Alive Again

  • "Written with style & rich with powerful questions & abiding love, The Dead Are Gods will be familiar-and illuminating-to anyone who has grieved."

    Savala Nolan, author of Don’t Let it Get You Down

  • "It would suffice to say that The Dead Are Gods is a refreshing tale of friendship and grief, were it not for the fact that it is also dazzling recreation of a cultural moment in time— the 2000s—, one told from the perspective of a hip, young Black kid on a scene that was abundantly white."

    Roberto Lovato, author of Unforgetting

  • "In Eirinie Carson's beautiful ode to her best friend, she shows that love surpasses death. I witnessed the birth of a relationship between two Black women who created and found homes in each other as they navigated the whiteness of alternative rock and modeling spaces in London."

    Taylor Crumpton, Cultural Critic and Journalist

  • The author and her best friend, Larissa, were a magical pair—gorgeous, super-smart Black models who shared a London flat, a dazzling nightlife, and a zillion loving texts and emails [...] for anyone who has experienced the obsessive self-searching that often accompanies a sudden loss.

    Oprah Daily, Oprah’s Spring Read 2023

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."