Caposcripti

by Zelda Rhiando

-- Winner of the Kidwell-e £10,000 award for the best self-published eBook in the UK - JUNE 2012 --A novel about shrunken heads and dropouts, language and voyeurism, set in London and the Amazon basin.Modern London. The photographer is a man ruled by two obsessions. First, to take photographs that speak for him. Second, to make the subjects of those pictures speak to him alone. He is not interested in them as people - their banal tales of joy and suffering. His experiments are to uncover the secrets that they don't know they are keeping.Rewind to Peru in 1851. An explorer is battling to survive in a claustrophobic and unknown world. In flight from modernity he seeks older truths, which he finds in the customs of the Caposcripti.How these secrets survive, and how the photographer uses them in his terrifying experiments is only the beginning of the journey.Praise for "Intriguing" Noam Chomsky, Linguist“Caposcripti is just effortlessly mesmerising. It is a book
that is impossible to pigeonhole - all at once it is a Psycho- like thriller, a coming of age story, a man-hunt, an anthropological study and literary treat as it weaves across continents and times. Zelda Rhiando is as good at capturing the chilling obsession and practicality of a serial killer as she is at recreating the intensely alive depths of the jungles of the Amazon. Totally compelling stuff - I can’t recommend it enough!”
 Emma Pickard, Freelance Publishing Marketer“I loved it. It is tense, thrilling and terrifically ambitious. And it has shrunken heads in it.”
 Scott Pack, Publisher, The Friday Project“It’s quite shocking to realise that one of your regular customers is secretly a serious literary talent. I read her book and my hands shook when I poured her a pint.”
 Kit Fraser, Publican and Author of The Joy of Talk“A wonderful, well-paced story about those individuals who seek to illuminate the shadowy corners of human existence - forgotten over time or never fully understood. The plot moves easily between the tumult of the modern city and the suffocating lushness of the South American jungle. Meanwhile we are given a sense of those faint wisps of half- known wisdom that obscure the heart of darkness pulsing beneath the thin veneer of our civilization.”Jim Gleeson, Writer“Beautifully constructed... immaculate prose... John Grisham meets Carlos Castaneda” 
Patrick Kelly, Bookmongers Bookshop, London“I loved the way the dialogue builds and builds, but is very subtle...a different way of looking.”
Anna Druka, Illustrator and Curator“It was such a good read. I enjoyed its clear lucid prose and vivid compelling narratives. Nina was a fabulous character and I felt so moved by the tribal people and their way of life. I am left with a nostalgia and sense of loss for the time when we as people trod softly upon this earth. Above all I loved the ending.”Melanie Swan, Book Rep“Just finished Caposcripti and what a cracking good read it is too. Genuine sense of menace throughout.”
 Ron Meerbeck, Artist and Writer“Mesmerising, exquisite, and beautifully crafted!” Alex M. Dunne, Microsoft“Caposcripti is a densely constructed, deeply disturbing book. It touches on the fears at the heart of all of us, and exposes how the desire for knowledge can be as corrupting as the lust for power.” Ben Scott Robinson, Director, We Love Mobile“I saw one of your stickers in the toilet and wanted to scrawl ‘beware the photographer!’ - but I’d lost my pen.

298 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 3, 2011

About the author

Zelda Rhiando lives in South London with her husband, two daughters and three cats, and is one of the founders of the Brixton BookJam - the quarterly literary event that has hosted readings by established and emerging writers since 2012.

She is the author of three novels, Caposcripti, Fukushima Dreams, and Night Shift, and is currently working on a fourth. When not writing she can be found child-wrangling and making digital products.

Reviews

[Sandy Beaches · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! The two narratives in Caposcripti are interlaced in a most macabre design, intricately related to the storing of knowledge, and exploration of power. It's hard to review without spoiling, but all I can say is that you can expect a mythical journey that takes you to some of the darkest corners of the psyche, by way of utopian mysteries. It's quite a journey, highly recommended!

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story, but a little too slow to develop then rather rushed to the final conclusion.