This incredibly powerful book by media professor Courtenay Stallings explores the dark side of Twin Peaks through interviews with fans of the show who've experienced trauma in their own lives and worked through it with assistance from the character of Laura Palmer.



In 1990, the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, cocreated by David Lynch and Mark Frost, opened with a murder mystery when a homecoming queen washed up on a rocky beach. Laura Palmer’s character began as a plot device that triggered a small town to face its fractured self. After three seasons and a film, Laura Palmer is no longer just a plot device. Twin Peaks allows the audience to get to know the victim—a complex woman finding her strength while enduring incredible trauma. Laura’s Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks explores Laura’s legacy through the perspectives of women in the fan community and women involved in the show. Actor Sheryl Lee examines the challenges of playing Laura Palmer. Filmmaker Jennifer Lynch discusses writing Laura’s backstory in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. Grace Zabriskie argues about the complicity of Sarah Palmer, Laura’s mother. Sabrina S. Sutherland, executive producer of Twin Peaks, talks about Laura’s legacy. Women in the Twin Peaks fan community share their powerful and heart-wrenching stories of survival and what Laura Palmer means to them. This book is a reckoning in which women speak about trauma, mischief, humor, sexuality, strength, weakness, wickedness, and survival.