Nobody Is Ever Missing

Wry, surprising and blackly funny... a novel of uncomfortable power -- Justine Jordan * Guardian *
Witty, knowing and lyrical * Spectator *
[A novel] of striking intelligence and originality... arresting and highly accomplished * Daily Mail *
Compelling and fascinating... a fable for our age * Independent on Sunday *
It was the voice on the page that drew me into Nobody Is Ever Missing: incantatory, cool, and unerringly tuned to fresh detail... It's unusual to find a book at once freewheeling, controlled, and startlingly observant, but this is one -- Nathan Heller ‘Best Books of 2014’ * New Yorker *
[A] fine, fierce, funny debut... [Written] in startling, haunting prose. Sharp and original * Psychologies *
A very fine debut... The writing is pellucid. Elyria's thoughts flow with easy grace, in long, run-on sentences, revealing troubled eddies with compelling clarity and perfect ear... moving and delightful -- Sam Kitchener * Literary Review *
Witty, knowing and lyrical... Lacey [gives] a terrific amount of insight into agony and courage, and suffering with style. Berryman, I think, would have been proud -- Susie Boyt * Spectator *
Incantatory, cool... startlingly observant -- Best Books of 2014 * New Yorker *
In this beautiful and deeply moving novel, Lacey not only describes in exquisitely painful detail the woe that is in marriage, but also delivers a profound and wise reflection on grief and its aftermath... Essential reading, a tender and at times hair-raising examination of love, family and of the joys and perils of casting fate to the wind -- John Burnside, author * Black Cat Bone *
A beautiful, haunting literary novel that also happens to be a real page-turner. [It] had me hooked from the very first page. Nobody Is Ever Missing is a wonderful debut novel, reminiscent of Elena Ferrante or Amy Hempel, and Catherine Lacey is a serious talent -- Jonathan Lee, author * Joy *
A serious, frequently brilliant novel with a sustained intensity that is rare in fiction. It's the most promising first novel that I've encountered this year * Wall Street Journal *
Boundlessly brave and astute. It does what books should do - let the reader feel something. A novel of uneasy, startling insight -- Samantha Harvey, author * The Wilderness *
By the novel's end [we] have reached the idiosyncratic heart of the human mystery... Strikingly original * New Yorker *
Completely - and instantly - enthralling: an excellent first novel and an exciting new voice -- Geoff Dyer, author * Zona *
A powerful, surprising, and emotional mystery about a woman who abandons her seemingly perfect life in New York to search for or hide from herself -- Best Books of 2014 * Vanity Fair *
A dense, subtle series of meditations on domestication, estrangement, wildness, above all loss and absence -- David Shields
I have no words. Catherine Lacey took all the words and put them in here and now I feel less and more alone. Awe. -- Joss Whedon, Director
In Catherine Lacey's virtuosic debut, a young woman hurls herself into the landscape of New Zealand in search of a way to break the frozen sea within. The story that follows is a gutsy, lyric meditation on identity, love, transformation, and what it means to be free. Nobody Is Ever Missing is a breathtakingly accomplished novel, and it establishes Catherine Lacey as a riveting new voice in contemporary fiction -- Laura van den Berg
A dark, precise jewel of a novel that does what every piece of writing should: cast a subtly new light on the world around us -- John Wray
Lacey - with the ease of a master - depicts a mind that may, or may not, be breaking down... Page after page, the novel strikes those rarely accomplished balances between action and interiority, comedy and bleakness, stream-of-consciousness and clarity... Written with honesty and linguistic deftness -- Tiffany Gibert * Time Out New York *
Catherine Lacey's voice is wholly unique, somehow managing to be both a challenge and a relief at the same time. Nobody is Ever Missing is one of my favourite books of the year, a journey to the other side of the world I won't soon forget -- Jami Attenberg, author * The Middlesteins *
Lacey has created something of striking intelligence and originality. [Her] gift lies not least in knowing how to alleviate the psychological intensity with finely honed darts of mordant wit. An arresting and highly accomplished debut deserving of the acclaim it has already received in the US -- Stephanie Cross * Daily Mail *
[A] fine, fierce, funny debut... [Written] in startling, haunting prose. Sharp and original * Psychologies *
[A novel] of striking intelligence and originality... Lacey's gift lies not least in knowing how to alleviate the psychological intensity with finely honed darts of mordant wit. An arresting and highly accomplished debut deserving of the acclaim it has already received -- Stephanie Cross * Daily Mail *
Fierce, funny, haunting... Elyria may be adrift, but her observations are sharp and original -- Charlotte Heathcote ‘Book of the Month’ * Sunday Express *
A well written novel that makes you think. Compelling and fascinating. Lacey's debut is a fable of our age -- Andrew Tong * Independent on Sunday *
A startling reminder of human vulnerability and the dangers of isolation. An unconventional, gripping narrative. Fascinating -- Sarah Fortescue * The Lady *
Like a cigarette packet, this disturbing but impressively sustained debut should carry a warning: read only if feeling robust -- Maggie Fergusson * Intelligent Life *
Lacey's writing offers precise and involving insights into suffering -- Francesca Angelini * Sunday Times *
Lacey's prose is extraordinary, curling and coiling around huge and important thoughts, probing and testing the truth of things. The whole thing really shook me -- Alison Flood * Bookseller *
This is an extraordinary debut from Lacey, a beautifully written and psychologically intense novel that doesn't settle for an easy resolution * Daily Herald *
An exquisite read about the power of love * Smallish *
The disintegration of a marriage and tracing its evolution fires Nobody Is Ever Missing, as it flits seamlessly between present day New Zealand and the recent past in New York... Technically brilliant -- Claire Coughlin * Sunday Independent (Dublin) *