Marie-Madeleine was a German Jew, lesbian poet and novelist whose eroticism and love for morphine was revealed in many of her shocking, sensational, and bestselling books of the early twentieth century. Born Gertrud Gunther, and starting at age 15 she wrote over 46 books until 1932 when Nazis condemned her work as degenerate. In 1943 she entered a sanatorium for morphine addiction where she died a mysterious death while under the care of Nazis doctors.

Priestess of Morphine: The Lost Writings of Marie-Madeleine contains many of this fascinating woman’s works, translated for the first time into English, and also contains Stephen J. Gertz’s Foreword explaining why Marie-Madeleine has become a rediscovered heroine of lesbian and drug literature. Fascinating images from Marie-Madeleine’s lost literature and career supplement this volume.

Editor Ronald K. Siegel is known for his classics in drug literature, including Intoxication: Life in Pursuit of Artificial Paradise and Whispers: The Voices of Paranoia.