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‘A townie manifesto’: North Shore erotica book has new edition after Market Basket cease-and-desist
Madison Murray, a Salem native, has released a second edition of her erotica book without mentioning the beloved grocery store chain.
Madison Murray released a second edition of her book, the title of which is too raunchy to write here, on North Shore culture in June. The book omits any mention of Market Basket, following the grocer issuing the Salem native a cease-and-desist letter in November.
Market Basket lawyers contacted Murray after discovering she was selling clothing, stickers, and tote bags with a play on the store’s “More For Your Dollar” slogan, aka “Wh*** For Your Dollar.”
“I’m trying to be a woman of the people, so when they sent me the cease-and-desist, I followed it,” the author recently told Boston.com.
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In March, Murray did host a pop-up poetry reading in the Salem Market Basket parking lot. However, when two attendees arrived, she said Salem police issued her a no trespass order.
“Wow, I’m a criminal,” Murray said she thought while the police escorted her out.
According to the book’s front cover, it is “a deep and raw look into the North Shore of Massachusetts.” In a review, author L. Sully called the book “a townie manifesto.”
Now sold at Lovestruck Books in Cambridge, the book is displayed on the store’s non-fiction shelves with two stickers warning shoppers of the erotic content: 18+ and NSFW, which stands for not safe for work.
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Originally self-published in January 2025, the second edition includes six new collages that are “more consistent” with the nudity aspects of the book and feature “more sex workers,” said Murray, who is also an OnlyFans manager and the editorial manager of Petit Mort, a magazine dedicated to the sex worker community.
In between poems and short stories about North Shore cities, the book’s collages feature the logos of iconic restaurants, a three-way roast beef over genitalia, and a “Packie Princess” wearing a Patriots jersey with a six-pack in hand.
Andy Ferg, a reviewer of North Shore beefs, called the book, “A beautiful mix of poetry and prose, photography and Photoshop, erotica and eyeball assault. … Put this book on your coffee table and scare your visitors.”
The entire book was created by Murray with the exception of some nude photos from other North Shore residents, sourced from an open call for submissions on the book’s Instagram page.
In terms of how the book came to be, Murray said, “I had a lot of photos, and obviously memories, … of North Shore experiences that I thought would be received well by North Shore locals, especially given all the North Shore meme pages and community trauma bonding that happens on the internet.”
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The idea for the book became more solidified when Murray began playing around with the idea of, “How funny would it be to sexualize my birthplace?”
The book also became a source of nostalgia for the millennial generation, Murray said.
“Even if you are not from the area, I’d wager you see yourself in ordinariness. The beautiful, evil, wild, insane ordinariness of being under the American thumb,” said Lucas Restivo in a review of the book.
To pair with the book, Murray created merchandise of the most popular collages and memes from the book’s Instagram page.
In May, Murray launched a new merchandise line, selling Lana Del Revere bikinis and a shirt that says, “Sorry princess I only date women from North Shore Massachusetts.” Other merchandise includes postcards of cows grazing outside of Saugus’s Kowloon restaurant and a pastel clothing line with a candy conversation heart design with the words “North Shore Sweetheart.”
“What’s so beautiful about our culture is [that] we’re kind of disgusting, but also really smart and kind when it comes down to it,” said Murray.
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To maintain the “sense of community” the book created, Murray is releasing an audiobook in the fall alongside a blog and a podcast discussing “niche North Shore history” and “cultural commentary.”
The expansion of the book’s brand is “for the girls.” Murray said, “There’s a lot of guys in the Masshole thing and not enough women.”
While not focused on North Shore culture, Murray is working on another book that is more “earnest” with “some Massachusetts ties” in the sections regarding her father, who is a Revere native.
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