Harmless

by Miranda Shulman

Chilling, twisty, and surprisingly tender, Harmless explores the confusion and messiness of growing up—and asks if we can ever really outrun what haunts us most.

Two years ago, Bea’s life was upended when her beloved twin sister, Audrey, died. Audrey was captivating, an extrovert, their mother’s golden child. Bea was “different,” too intense, and chronically lonely.

Now, in her late twenties, having taken time away to grieve, Bea is back home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, her spirits finally buoyed by her plan to start a dog kennel. Inspired by the childhood dream she once shared with Audrey and old, now-estranged friends Tatum and Layla, she’s sure this will be the perfect ode to her sister’s life. Despite what people say, Bea knows she took good care of Audrey in the months before her death, and hopes to do the same for needy dogs. But she'll have to ask for help.

Tatum is dissatisfied with her assistant-level publishing job and icked by her live-in college boyfriend. Layla, on the other hand, has a full-time assistant but no job, thanks to her mother’s immense fortune. Both are desperate for purpose and well-primed for Bea’s unexpected business proposition.

But as they reintegrate into one another’s lives, simmering tensions—and attractions—emerge, and a sinister darkness breaks through to the surface. What do they really want from one another? What happens when buried secrets come to light? And when is the right time to abandon an outdated dream—or a lifelong friendship?

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication April 14, 2026

About the author

Miranda Shulman attended Bard College, where she majored in human rights. Before pursuing a career in publishing, she worked at Planned Parenthood. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and still lives there. Harmless is her first novel.

Reviews

[Lucy FiveCrows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miranda Shulman’s debut novel is a stunningly sinister journey of grief that will be sure to stick with you for weeks.
The story centers around three women, grieving after the loss of their friend and sister, Audrey, who decide to open a dog kennel in her honor, but their reunion brings up old, long dormant tensions.
Bea, the central character, was Audrey’s primary caregiver when she passed away after a long battle with heroin addiction. Her strange behavior and lack of visible emotion put many people off, and she is almost completely isolated. Tatum, a former best friend of Audrey’s, is stuck in a relationship she is unhappy in, and struggling to resist to temptations brought on by a reunion with her long-lost friend, Layla. Layla, the daughter of a famous television writer, is the pinnacle of New York wealth. She’s got plastic boobs and an assistant twice her age, yet she’s unaware of the very scope of her privilege.
The differences between these three characters are clear, but are only heightened when. they interact with each other. The depth and scope of the characters make Harmless a fascinating and unique read, and the story will keep you guessing up until the very last sentence.

[whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Harmless is a layered but chaotic novel that primarily follows two women in their twenties: Beatrix and Tatum. Bea’s twin Audrey passed away two years before the beginning of the novel in a heroin-induced choking incident (on an olive). The novel opens during Audrey’s COVID-delayed memorial. When Bea and Audrey’s childhood friends Tatum and Layla show up to the memorial, Bea confronts them with her brilliant idea: a revival of their collective childhood dream of opening a dog kennel/rescue. Layla and her family’s new money immediately become invested in this idea and prepare to mobilize it. But Bea suddenly loses enthusiasm for the idea and her role in Audrey’s addiction and subsequent death becomes complicated.

I particularly liked Bea as a character. She is strange, often comes off as rude, and really doesn’t care what anyone else thinks of her. I love that she is such a morally twisted character, and I think that the book did a good job of making the reader completely uncomfortable whenever she is in a scene. I haven’t read a character in a long time that I was so simultaneously intrigued and put off by, I think that this is a very difficult balance to strike.

The narrative is also completely embedded in New York in the perfect way. Every scene felt intimately familiar with Park Slope especially, and Schulman painted a very real-feeling although perhaps exaggerated picture of that part of Brooklyn. Schulman was convincing in this picture and I would entirely believe that she is from Park Slope.

I was expecting a more thorough meditation on grief. Especially considering that Audrey and Bea were twins, I thought that this book might be more devastating than it was. I don’t think this lack of grief and emotion was a bad thing, of course, it was just surprising. Perhaps it’s because the novel opens two years after the death occurred. But Harmless is much more of a humorous romp through Park Slope that explores the tensions between an eclectic group of childhood friends.

I guess what fell short for me was that the book was ultimately kind of boring. Bea is a wonderfully strange character, but we focus more on minor mischief than the actual borderline atrocities she commits. Schulman is perhaps a little bit too interested in Tatum, who, while well-written, was rather boring to me. Getting out of Bea’s claustrophobically twisted mind was refreshing at times, but I don’t really understand the point of Tatum’s perspective. Her arc as a character made sense and was satisfying by the end, but not interesting. I think her as a character particularly turned Harmless from being an ironic, unreliable narrative to becoming a sort of uncritical window into the foibles of the New York wealthy.

I still think it was an enjoyable read, and I am sure that Harmless will do well for a lot of people. I am excited to see how other people will receive this novel when it comes out in April next year. I ended up rating this a 3.25/5.

[Rachel Reinhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I deeply wanted to enjoy this book, but I couldn’t get there. I thought it was quite well written, and had such potential, but it felt too chaotic to enjoy. There were so many different paths that the plot took, and I could never fully dive deep enough into each character to enjoy them (even though clearly some were not meant to be likable). Plus, I wanted the adults storyline to have more meat to it, but we didn’t get to know them enough for me to really care about what happened with the yellow house. Maybe next time!

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an intensely beautiful and relatable book. Bea’s character as complex but so relatable and I saw parts of myself in her character’s personality. As she goes after her dream, we see how sometimes it’s inevitable to have to lean on others but how do you decide who you can rely on? people you can rely on. The tension between characters oozed off the pages at times. This book got me in the feels. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Sbatdorf · Rating 3 out of 5]

UGH! I gobbled this book up only to find the ending a letdown. You may like it but felt like there was no conclusion/resolution. Thank to NetGalley for the advance copy.

[J R · Rating 5 out of 5]

twisty and intense book about obsession and a need to be the one taking care of others that builds towards an impressive final climax on the last page. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

[Benny Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pure weird hilarious genius -- like if Patricia Highsmith and Jami Attenberg had a very strange, very fun baby. The story starts at a memorial service for Audrey, one out of a group of four friends who grew up together going to the "yellow house" -- a place they all mythologize and have very strong feelings about -- each summer with their mothers (also all close friends). The three surviving members of the group -- Audrey's twin sister Bea and their two friends Tatum and Layla -- decide to carry out, to honor Audrey's memory, their childhood dream of opening a dog rescue. Things go hilariously wrong -- and then not so hilariously wrong, as old rivalries, buried secrets, and dark desires burst into destructive view. I would've stuck around through the whole book just for Shulman's understated but also somehow manic wit (a passage describing a dog park will stick with me forever and has ruined all dog parks for me, and potentially all dogs) and the complex relationships between the three women. But on top of that, the compulsive almost thriller-like ending had me reading this book in a single sitting. Cannot more strongly recommend this book!!!