Helen of Nowhere

by Makenna Goodman

From the “brilliantly complex” (Jenny Offill) author of The Shame comes an electrifying dive into one man’s fractured psyche as he searches for a new life.

Taking place over the course of one day, Helen of Nowhere introduces an intimate cast: an unnamed man at the end of both his career and marriage, a young realtor showing him an idyllic house in the countryside, and Helen, the mystifying former owner whose spectral presence seems to imbue the house’s every grain of wood. Through stories of the remarkable woman, the man is presented with an alternate way of life. But, as evening fades into black, the specifics of how to live it become more than what he bargained for.

Philosophically adventurous, strange, and fascinating, Helen of Nowhere examines the structures that form our identity, staring the reader down to ask the haunting question: What is the cost of true happiness?

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, American

160 pages, Paperback

Published September 9, 2025

Reviews

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This did not work for me, unfortunately. I don't think I've read two books from the same author that feel so different in writing. I liked The Shame for its acerbic humor and charm, but Helen of Nowhere feels like it is trying too hard to be profound.

The plot seems like a hybrid of Mrs. Dalloway and A Christmas Carol in that the events take place over a single day, and our narrator is visited by a ghost who helps him reckon with his life. He is an unreliable narrator who only gives us glimpses into the breakdown of his marriage.

I fear I may be too stupid to really get what this book is trying to say... The main commentary of the book is that the husband takes his wife for granted, exploits their power dynamic, and she performs domestic and professional labour that contributes to his success at the expense of her own. Which is all fine and valid - but not particularly groundbreaking. Nothing brings the disjoint plot elements together, and it could be argued that the ending undermines much of the book's commentary.

Both of Goodman's novels center on the domestic lives of women and how they navigate them in a modern world, but ultimately, I think The Shame is a better execution of it. The writing has some poignant remarks but is bogged down by ambiguity and the inability to commit to a central plot arc.

Thank you to Coffee House Press for the advanced copy.
---
Lucy Dacus gave this 5 stars and that was all the encouragement I needed

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading it, I had no idea where this novel was going to take me, and it was so worth it for the spectacular ending!

I received this book as part of my Coffee House Press subscription for Fall 2025.

[dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

“i had wondered if there was even a point to existing… but was it just as possible ceasing to exist was the only way to exist truthfully?”

a very thought provoking novel that circles around different points of views of characters that are intertwined with the other in the same way. a lot of the lines will stick with me for life, and to me, thats a book worth reading.

very artistically lyrical and if looking at it through its flawed and existential characters and beautiful prose, this is a story that will stay forever

[ritareadthat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. There were definitely some great passages that resonated with me. There are a lot of deeply philosophical type musings being conveyed here. However, I find the writing as a whole just a little too abstract for me. I typically enjoy weird and out there type of books, but this one was a little too much even for me. Hopefully it works for you!

Thanks to Coffee House Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

[JE · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Helen of Nowhere after a strange experience. I attended an author panel where one of the participants was an older author who was once quite relevant. I researched him after the event. He'd won a couple book awards and even had a movie made from one. Without getting into it too much, he was a good writer who'd lost touch with the ways in which authors achieve relevance today.

Sadly, with his latest work, he'd not only tried to keep his status and influence through well-worn means, but doubled down on his role as a sort of spokesperson in an area where truly gifted people could speak with their own voices. This resulted in most reputable publishers not being interested in his most recent book. He did finally find a press who'd take him, but this was likely due to some combination of connections and persistence. I felt sorry for him so I purchased his book, but I couldn't finish it.

As I read the first few pages of Helen of Nowhere, the parallels between the once relevant man at the book event I attended and the man in Goodman's book struck me. I should not be surprised. As the world changes, so are the ways in which we experience authentic stories and voices. But Goodman's story about once esteemed man losing his place made me laugh out loud. I also wondered aloud about my own cruelty.

After all, I'm a man who achieves daily relevance and privilege simply by being a man. The days are coming when this free pass will begin to lose it's value. I think there are many men who fear this transition down to their core. And they're attempting to find ways to recover. Many methods are tragically dark, desperate, and laughable.

For me, the protagonist's recovery at the end of Goodman's novel is among the more reasonable pathways forward. However, as the back cover blurb explains, it remains encumbered by consequence, "He will learn that the asking price may be much higher, and stranger, than anticipated."

(Note: I got an early copy of this book by being a Coffee House Press subscriber.)

[Matt Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn’t clear to me what Goodman was trying to do here until the end. I found it extremely amusing, mostly because of the ridiculously elaborate set up.

The joke’s set up is basically a modern feminist retelling of Dr. Faustus. In Goodman’s retelling, a ridiculously mysognistic professor tours a country home where he is seduced by a baccanal Helen figure into necromancy. The benefit of the bargain is deeply ironic.

[Chloe]

“She realized she valued her life on the day-to-day. A good day meant all was okay, while a bad day was cause for concern. She said she held onto the good days knowing they had been outweighed by the bad days for years. She realized that I thought about the long view, about life over a long period of time, not by moments, but by the concept of it in general; a completed vision of what I hoped it would be in the end.”

[Hannah Bonner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange, enthralling, and thought provoking.

[Olga · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s an easy, smooth read. I loved the details and the descriptions of nature, the house, and the mysterious Helen. But around the middle to the end, it suddenly shifts into something completely unexpected. It’s hard to explain, it gets a bit confusing, and the ending is so surprising that you almost feel like you need to read it again… and honestly, I’m just not in the mood for that.

[Corrie Liotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

God I LOVE a weird little book. And what a thematically perfect read to pick up right after finishing Katabasis 💀

[zeynep · Rating 3 out of 5]

helen of nowhere follows a man who, dealing with the destruction of both his career and his marriage in interrelated ways, searches for a different way to live. this occurs throughout his process of trying to buy a new house in the country, a house belonging to a ghost-like being named helen. this book was cerebral, for lack of a better way to put it, and i thought that the ending was very clever, but it does not overall feel very cohesive. the latter half was definitely a lot stronger than the former, which got to be a bit tedious to read through, and for all its discussions and exploring i am not sure where, exactly, the book left us. however, all in all, the book was well-written and interesting, and raised some questions i was glad to think about.

thank you so much to coffee house press and edelweiss for the arc!

[belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

“You had to look at chairs and at tables, and then you would remember, but a mirror made you forget. Inside every person is a landscape, Helen would say. Why look at your reflection in search of the truth? We are more than just our puny selves, and mirrors are all about puniness. All the mistakes we may have made, these are mistakes that come from looking too hard at our reflections. If we had no reflections, we'd see what was in front of us, we'd see many things at once, none of them ourselves.”

“If you look at your spirit as a horse running through a field, you can see that there's just no restrictions, there's just absolute expression without any kind of hesitation. There's just complete expression. The soul, on the other hand—like when a man is soulful, when he's playing jazz and he becomes the music—is how the essence of who we are can come through.”

Fine distinction
Spirit - expression
Soul - essence

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️
I will start by saying this book has a lot of interesting quotes that were thought provoking but the plot was a bit too arbitrary for me.

The book follows a man through the lens of various other characters he interacts with in each chapter having him contemplate his life, work, and his marriage.

The best parts of this book were the questions and issues the man brought up about his marriage, why were they incompatible and why did his wife want to leave?

“She realized that while an anchor’s main purpose was to hold a ship in place, it wasn’t meant to solely anchor - it had every right, and in fact demanded to be pulled up from time to time to rest on deck and enjoy the feeling of the open air.”

My main issues of the book were personal, it was a lot of philosophical ramblings of whichever character was in charge of the narrative and then the ending was… a choice I was not expecting.

[s wong · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful prose. Empty and hollow on substance. Started off promising but devolved quickly as the parts moved on. What is the point of this man? Are men just shallow self-absorbed beings that do not know how to love? The ending, when juxtaposed with the beginning seems totally out of place and came out of nowhere as if the author didn’t have a good way to close off and slapped it on for a good laugh. Men are simply no better than that ending. I did have a chuckle over that point.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this DRC from Edelweiss.

I'm glad this one was short. It felt like it was trying hard to be profound, but could've benefitted from some subtlety. The man was just so unlikable from the start in such an obvious way that it felt too over the top. The ending made it a bit more interesting to me, but I'm not sure if that was enough to make the whole thing worthwhile.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m struggling a bit to review this odd little book. I read it for spooky season and it is, in an odd way. The misogynist who goes to see about a house to save his marriage-ish - and then… it’s worth the read and I feel like it has interesting things to say about the academic world at least for women. Loved the ending.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this down. This fever dream of a novel, which could also be a play, is riveting. The connections between the characters, the narratives on country, city, gender, and the act of creating and living in our modern world kept me guessing and curious the whole time.

[Daisy]

I don't get the ending. The novel raises interesting questions about performing victimhood without actually experiencing it (like a fictional retelling of the talking points in "We Have Never Been Woke"), but the ending provides no answers.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blistering, hilarious satire skewering white male privilege, misogyny and academia, Helen of Nowhere offers an utterly unique twist on what can happen when a disgraced professor leaves the city behind in search of his idyllic rural refuge.

[Kirsten Schulz · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Say if you had rated your life based on inner harmony and affection, you would have gotten a ten, but if you had rated it based on authority and creative power, you would have gotten a five. Would this have been enough, a ten and a five?”

One of my favorite book endings of the year.

[Nicholas During · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Goodman's writing. The development of the characters is subtle and effective, while still having room for ideas and emotions and humor. Worth a read.

[Ian Mond]

My review of this strange, fascinating novel will appear in the September 2025 issue of Locus.

[Kaylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

omfg that ending. i need to reread this asap.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

What theeee
Book club here I come

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating and kept me guessing. The ending enormously satisfying.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved it. academia drama and ego mutates into surreal territory.

[Yong Qi · Rating 2 out of 5]

kafkaesque cockroach ending.

[Harry Smith]

strange. what to make of so many posed dichotomies? 🐶 🐶 🐶

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect length, the perfect structure, for the book it’s trying to be. Such an impressive little work of fiction

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book since Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream that I’ve devoured in a single sitting. A disquieting and enigmatic psychological journey.