A spin on the classic haunted house story, Tell Me I’m Worthless

paints a bone-chilling picture of fascism in Britain. The novel follows two former best friends: Alice, a trans woman who sells ‘sissy porn’ to make ends meet, and Ila, a half Asian, half Jewish woman who has gotten involved with a trans-exclusionary radical feminist after an incident occurred between her and Alice. Three years before the start of the novel, both women entered ‘the House’ and came out with different but equally traumatising accounts of what went down inside. Rumfitt’s debut doesn’t shy away from absurdity — we find out early in the novel, for example, that Alice is haunted by Morrissey — but the specifics are what make the novel both impressive and utterly terrifying. The complexities of the girls and the online spaces they inhabit give an honest but understanding glimpse into the divided world we are living in. MG

Cipher Press