Aesthetica

<b>In a debut novel as radiant as it is caustic a former influencer confronts her past&#151;and takes inventory of the damages that underpin the surface-glamour of social media.</b><br><br>At 19 she was an Instagram celebrity.&#160;Now at 35 she works behind the cosmetic counter at the &#147;black and white store&#148; peddling anti-aging products to women seeking physical and spiritual transformation. She too is seeking rebirth. She&#146;s about to undergo the high-risk elective surgery Aesthetica&#153; a procedure that will reverse all her past plastic surgery procedures returning her she hopes to a truer self.&#160;Provided she survives the knife.<br>&#160;<br>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 &#147;woke&#148; 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.<br>&#160;<br>Propulsive dark and moving <i>Aesthetica</i> is a <i>Veronica</i> for the age of &#147;Instagram face&#148; delivering a fresh nuanced examination of feminism #MeToo and mother-daughter relationships all while confronting our collective addiction to followers filters and faux realities.