In a debut novel as radiant as it is caustic, a former influencer confronts her past—and takes inventory of the damages that underpin the surface-glamour of social media.

At 19, she was an Instagram celebrity. Now, at 35, she works behind the cosmetic counter at the “black and white store,” peddling anti-aging products to women seeking physical and spiritual transformation. She too is seeking rebirth. She’s about to undergo the high-risk, elective surgery Aesthetica™, a procedure that will reverse all her past plastic surgery procedures, returning her, she hopes, to a truer self. Provided she survives the knife.
 
But on the eve of the surgery, her traumatic past resurfaces when she is asked to participate in the public takedown of her former manager/boyfriend, who has rebranded himself as a paragon of “woke” masculinity in the post-#MeToo world. With the hours ticking down to her surgery, she must confront the ugly truth about her experiences on and off the Instagram grid.
 
Propulsive, dark, and moving, Aesthetica is a Veronica for the age of “Instagram face,” delivering a fresh, nuanced examination of feminism, #MeToo, and mother-daughter relationships, all while confronting our collective addiction to followers, filters, and faux realities.

"At 19, she was an Instagram celebrity. Now, at 35, she works behind the cosmetic counter at the "black and white store," peddling anti-aging products to women seeking physical and spiritual transformation. She too is seeking rebirth. She's about to undergo the high-risk, elective surgery Aesthetica, a procedure that will reverse all her past plastic surgery procedures, returning her, she hopes, to a truer self. Provided she survives the knife. But on the eve of the surgery, her traumatic past resurfaces when she is asked to participate in the public takedown of her former manager/boyfriend, who has rebranded himself as a paragon of "woke" masculinity in the post-#MeToo world. With the hours ticking down to her surgery, she must confront the ugly truth about her experiences on and off the Instagram grid. Propulsive, dark, and moving, Aesthetica is a Veronica for the age of "Instagram face," delivering a fresh, nuanced examination of feminism, MeToo, and mother-daughter relationships, all while confronting our collective addiction to followers, filters, and faux realities."--

Praise for Aesthetica

“Nobody investigates the relationship between surface and self like Allie Rowbottom. Full of biting observations and stunningly beautiful prose, Aesthetica is poetic and singular—an unforgettable novel about power and loneliness, mothers and daughters, self-destruction and self-preservation.”
—Kimberly King Parsons, author of the National Book Award–longlisted Black Light

“Aesthetica is a pitch-perfect contemporary horror story and cautionary tale. Brutal and enlightening, with prose that crackles and radiates with heat, Rowbottom holds a fun house mirror not only to the characters within, but to a patriarchal America that equates body to commodity. Ultimately, Aesthetica is hopeful, reminding us of our very humanness, of our need to love and nurture and revere; Rowbottom tells us it's not too late to turn it all around, begin again. I've never read anything like it.”
—T. Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls


Praise for Allie Rowbottom

"A book that alternately surprises and mesmerizes . . . Jell-O Girls is dark and astringent, a cutting rebuke to its delicate, candy-colored namesake . . . Rowbottom has the literary skills and the analytical cunning to pull it off . . . Gorgeous."
―The New York Times

"With this fascinating cultural history of an iconic dessert and its creators, Rowbottom has found the courage to break the mold."
―People

"A fascinating feminist exploration . . . A strange, sensitive account of trauma, motherhood, and America."
―Real Simple
 
"From these beginnings, Allie Rowbottom has molded this generous book of intuition, connection, and grace. This is a work of wild insights and deep music."
―Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

"Allie Rowbottom's memoir is an unflinching exploration of the inheritance and curse behind an American icon. Graceful and genuine, Jell-O Girls is what happens when a damn good story meets an even better writer."
―Mat Johnson, author of Pym and Loving Day

"Allie Rowbotton is a talent not to be overlooked! I love this book with all my heart. I couldn't put down this strangely sparkling cultural and family history."
―Porochista Khakpour, author of Sick