Helen of Nowhere

‘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

‘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

‘Helen of Nowhere is one of the most surprising novels I’ve ever read. Goodman has found a unique way of blending political urgency and psychological insight with an almost hallucinatory spiritual dimension that manages to strike the reader as perfectly justified, deeply funny and profoundly true.’
— Vincenzo Latronico, author of Perfection

‘Goodman has wrought an epic in miniature, somehow as appealingly vast as a Greek tragedy or a Platonic dialogue, equal parts philosophy and art that's also delightfully wicked, like something from a fairytale or a fever dream.’
— Sarah Manguso, author of Liars

‘This is a wild and brave book! Intrepid, reconfiguring, and full of the best hauntings. In Helen of Nowhere, Goodman has daringly crafted toothsome characters you will devour.’
— Samantha Hunt, author of The Unwritten Book

‘A furious energy runs through Helen of Nowhere, whose every sentence is a joy to read. This is a book about loneliness and bitterness written with a wicked humor, and its moments of grace are as striking as they are enigmatic. A unique and brilliant work.’
— Ayşegül Savaş, author of The Anthropologists

‘Never have I read a book before that seemed to me so much like a dream, both utterly strange and somehow my own. A jolt, a bracing gasp of air, this is a novel for anybody who has had the thought recently that all contemporary fiction is the same.’
— Polly Barton, author of Porn: An Oral History

‘Helen of Nowhere expands one's sense of how a novel can be written.’
— Sheila Heti, author of Alphabetical Diaries

‘Uncanny and brilliant in its voicing of power and control, excellent on what it means to come face to face with one's own hubris, be that literary, philosophical or embodied. An intimate and immersive tour de force by a writer with a fearless style.’
—Preti Taneja, author of Aftermath

‘A hallucinatory closet drama.’
— Merve Emre, Granta Books of the Year

‘Blending biting wit and gorgeous, lyrical prose, Helen of Nowhere is at once a modern satire summoning Dickens in A Christmas Carol, an exploration of the failures of second wave feminism, and a sneaky ode to Woolf and Thoreau. It’s hard to pin down what this book is exactly, and whether or not Helen is Jesus, a furniture maker, god, the house, a wife, or time itself. Which is why you must restart it the moment you turn the last haunting page.’
— Alexandra Auder, author of Don't Call Me Home

‘Helen of Nowhere is an extraordinary book, gripping, daring and unusual. With a pacing that completely swept me along, Goodman explores the need to steady oneself by valuing that which is dear, by taking care of the love that needs to be nourished. The trajectory through anger into healing feels like a real journey in time – the dialogue flashing past, written with such speed and brilliance. I wolfed it down.’
— Celia Paul, author of Letters to Gwen John