In the middle of the countryside, a realtor is showing a disgraced professor around an idyllic house. She speaks not only about the home’s many wonderful qualities but about its previous owner, the mystifying Helen, whose presence still seems to suffuse every fixture. Through hearing stories of Helen’s chosen way of living, the man begins to see that his story is not actually over – rather, he is being offered a chance to buy his way into the simple life, close to the land, that’s always been out of reach to him. But as evening fades into black, he will learn that the asking price may be much higher, and stranger, than anticipated. Philosophically and formally adventurous, at once intimate and cosmic in scope, Helen of Nowhere asks: what must we give up in exchange for true happiness?
‘Wildly original… unpredictable and funny…. Is Helen of Nowhere a ghost story? A satire about back-to-the-land philosophies? A comedy about male obsolescence? Or, conversely, a skewering of woke identity politics? Perhaps it’s just a fable about burn-out or the human hunger for love. It could be all of these…. This is fiction that will sharpen your attention to the world, make it more intense. It reminds us that we don’t have to understand or like everything about a book to get something out of it. In fact, allowing ourselves to feel stimulated and perplexed feels like intellectual freedom and an awakening of human potential.’
— Johanna Thomas-Corr, The Times
‘Despite how fabular Helen of Nowhere seems in its progression, these kinds of narratorial shifts between Man, Realtor, Helen and ultimately Wife are dexterously, meticulously performed. They help enact a carefully negotiated dialectic: doing v taking, buying v selling, the individual v community, man v nature, dominance v support, masculine v feminine…. Goodman’s book is a perfect fairytale for our times.’
— Jo Hamya, Guardian
‘Is it possible for a man to truly change? Helen of Nowhere, the second novel from the American author Makenna Goodman, dramatizes this timeworn question to honest and hilarious effect…. [T]he energy of the novel, with its characters’ loopy digressions and riffs on everything from helicopter parenting to the role of pesticides in modern farming, is closest to the work of the Austrian novelist Thomas Bernhard. Goodman’s ending is a stroke of genius, a triumph of what Bernhard once referred to as a suffering mind’s “inner landscape”.’
— Abhrajyoti Chakraborty, Observer
‘[T]he ideas at work in this exhilarating and surprising novel are far from limited to the low-hanging fruit of campus misogyny, and the narrative soon gives way to meditations on truth and identity…. The incantatory second half of the novel raises compelling and resonant questions about how we see ourselves and others in our present moment of atomization and disconnection.’
— Arin Keeble, Financial Times
‘Helen of Nowhere is unlike any other fiction – unique in its blend of surrealism, philosophy and satire – while also raising questions about feminism, success, marriage and sacrifice. Every single sentence works hard and yet reads effortlessly. Brilliant.’
— Martha Alexander, AnOther
‘Beautifully written with a poetic, intriguing rhythm.’
— Markie Robson-Scott, Arts Desk
’Once in a blue moon, a book comes along that seems to read itself, demanding no extra effort beyond the turning of its pages. Makenna Goodman’s Helen of Nowhere is one of those books…. Goodman’s jabs at the travails of academia are sharp, and the novel’s goal of recovering lost pleasures is amplified by its thrilling metaphysical ambition.’
— Colm McKenna, Irish Times
‘[A] satire-cum-spiritual epic concerning a professor and a country home – a psychic space that becomes a stage for total self-transformation…. Goodman links questions of intimacy with questions of politics. Can we, she wonders, really believe in the reality of the other? And can we assimilate enough of what is outside the self to become fully realized beings, suited to love and braced to meet the world, to engage honestly with its challenges to our most steadfast beliefs?’
— Rachel Gerry, Times Literary Supplement
‘This is already one of our favourite books of the year…. Makenna Goodman makes the novel genuinely thrilling again as she masterminds us through Helen of Nowhere‘s six “acts” and a heady mixture of perspectives and audiences. As you’re reading, you’ll think to yourself “did she just… are we… is this…?” and you’re fully with Goodman for the entire ride…. Just read it.’
— Sophie Charara, Shortlist
‘Virtuosically written, with an insanity inside its sanity – or the other way around – that seems the proper use to make of reality in this moment.’
— Rachel Cusk, author of Parade