Agnes Lives!

by Hallie Elizabeth Newton

Bloomsbury presents Agnes Lives written and read by Hallie Elizabeth Newton

"An astonishing debut as mesmerizing as it is unnerving." --Joyce Carol Oates

A day-in-the-life debut novel about a fading socialite on the hunt for someone to kill her before her next SoulCycle class.

"A tale of suspense, a statement, a cry for help, and a delicious tour-de-force.” --Nell Zink

New York City, 2014. Agnes Maurer seeks a willing murderer and wonders what she should wear. Candidates an icy magazine editor with a special cutlery set; an eccentric designer from her past; and Agnes’s cruel novelist boyfriend. As she Ubers from Upper East Side shopping to Craigslist gun deals, Agnes’ desperation becomes an exhibition, a swan song of millennial sexuality as internalized abuse and consummate style, with the knob righty-tightened all the way.

Newton's prose is disturbingly fun, relentless, shattering. A crafted study of existential despair that culminates in a worthy, intense denouement.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Literature, Adult Fiction, Audiobook, Book Club

Audible Audio

First published June 23, 2026

Reviews

[Sophia Eck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Agnes Lives! and I am basically indifferent that she ever did, and somewhat wish that I could’ve potentially used the approximately 2.5 hours I spent reading this in wiser, more valuable ways. I’m quite frankly getting tired of authors and publishers expecting us to potentially spend $18-$29 on books that ultimately feel like first drafts or writing exercises. Yes, I read the ARC not the final draft, but this needs copious amounts of linguistic tidying and actual meaning and coherence given to the narrative to make it feel like a worthy focus of my time. These unlikable, incoherent, vapid, self serving and out of touch female characters are starting to get really old and increasingly dangerous for us to be perpetuating in media in our currently already anti-intellectual society that is regressing to be less and less “politically correct” every second. I know there are going to be a good handful of people who like this book, probably the same people who still support the show Euphoria, but personally I am less and less enthused day by day with this current trend of pointless provocation and crude shock factor used constantly as a crutch in today’s media. And I mean it could be argued that shock value is nothing new, which it definitively isn’t, or that “it’s not that deep” and that media doesn’t necessarily have to have a underlying through line of deeper meaning to be worth consuming, but I feel otherwise in the media I choose to consume, and I think it more often should be made out to be that deep, and that media should have some kind of valuable imparted meaning even when prioritizing itself more as entertainment over something that is more purposely conducive to mindful engagement. I want to care! Make me care!

[Annaliese · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is deranged, but not in the “weird girl lit” way that’s been popular, but in a “difficult to want to read” way. The text is made up of Agnes’ racing, mostly crass stream-of-consciousness thoughts, but she is such a grating character. I know she’s crazy, but it isn’t done well. Agnes is supposed to be a madwoman, but is simply not interesting enough to be the central character of a book. This book could have been 100 pages shorter; it would still be all over the place, but at least its reader would get it over with faster. I am genuinely disappointed that such a terrible book could be published.

Overall an unpleasant reading experience, to put it mildly. If you want to read a book about a woman who buys an interesting dress and is intently seeking out the perfect person to kill her, just read Muriel Spark’s The Driver’s Seat. It’s leagues beyond Agnes Lives!

I received an eARC from NetGalley and Bloomsbury.

[jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I truly feel gaslit by this book. 4 and 5 star reviews, yet it felt like reading an extended version of the short stories I listened to in my undergrad creative writing workshops. I’ve never been so excited to be done with a first person POV—it was like reading one long fever dream (and not in the way I usually enjoy).

[Melissa Remark · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I was intrigued by the premise - a socialite/former model (?) struggles with her deteriorating mental health over the course of 24 hours in New York City and searches for someone to kill her, seemingly because she doesn't have the strength to do it herself - but I stayed for the immersive stream of consciousness. While I found the writing style hard to stick with (and honestly, I lost the plot several times, which I believe is the point), we don't often get to read stream of consciousness these days. Agnes Lives! provides that rare opportunity, and placing this style of writing in the mind of a tragically dissociative and distracted, status-obsessed woman is both smart and maddening. This is not a fun book to read, and in the end, I still have many questions. Agnes Lives! is challenging. It asks the reader to empathize and understand what happens to a mind consumed with validation, whether in person or online, and it's an ugly place to be. It's a worthwhile read. I think I would have loved it if it were novella length, even though it's a short book as is.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d like to congratulate myself for my stubborn perseverance in finishing this ….book.

Reading Agnes Lives felt like discovering a forgotten manuscript I might have written in my early twenties when I had a rotating pharmacy of substances in and out of my system, severe depression, and suffered from sleep deprivation.

Characters appear, vanish, monologue, and emotionally unravel with the confidence of people who have never once met a coherent thought. The one thing that did peak my interest was the accidental murder spree 🤷🏻‍♀️

Was that a profound look into the deteriorating mind of a self absorbed insecure woman, performance art, or evidence submitted during a custody hearing? Thanks to the vague ending I guess we’ll never know.

[em · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never wanted a first person POV to end more than I have when reading this. Agnes was incredibly frustrating to read about, and not in an unlikeable narrator way, but in a dim witted and self absorbed way. She was stupid, naive, self obsessed and utterly clueless. Her unreliable narrative felt like I was stuck reading her journal, it was messy and overwhelming. A great concept, but a very annoying character.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #AgnesLives #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

agnes lives and subjects us to an incoherent 250 page POV

[Smam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this the "weird girl lit" I keep hearing about? Because I think it might just not be for me. This is 100% a love it or hate it kind of book. It's very readable and has a strong narrative voice that both pulls in and repels readers. Agnes as a narrator is so self-centered that we don't even hear anyone else's dialogue, only her own. She's also clearly mentally ill and has been abused throughout her life by the people around her. She'll be narrating some nonsense and then go on a brief tangent about the guy that raped her and then onto the next topic in a way that built a strong portrait of her as a person. But wow, the NYC-ness of it all was pretty insufferable to me. I also kept thinking "this doesn't feel like 2014," but 2014 in NYC was probably very different from 2014 where I was living at the time. Ends very abruptly but I actually kind of loved that. But the excess of the narrative and the stream-of-conscious style were just too grating for me.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Agnes… why were you never diagnosed with some sort of mental illness?!

I think it’s best to go into this book blind. The best way I can describe this is that this story is heartbreaking yet manic but in a satirically pretentious way. The entire story takes place over the course of 1 day – chapters broken down by times – as we follow Agnes on her decent into pure madness.

For lovers of weird girl lit, this is the crème of the crop. Do yourself a favor and check this one out. Bravo to Hallie on her debut novel, excited to see what she writes next.

Thank you to Bloomsbury USA & NetGalley for this advanced reader copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and my review is left voluntarily.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok i see why people don’t vibe with this because it is one long stream of consciousness day with a psychopath but idk i found it kinda fun

[A.D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine.

[Kaysey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between 3.5 & 4 stars

[Sadie Zabawa]

Here's what I'll say: the author really should have let someone else read the audiobook

[Ashlyn Tickle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Bloomsbury for the gifted ARC. This doesn’t affect my honest review.

This was…😳 … I struggled with this one. It reads like Agnes has ADHD and while I can appreciate the uniqueness of using a stream of consciousness type of writing… I just couldn’t stay engaged because I was getting so so lost every cope second.

On another note, this book was entirely unhinged and I kind of loved that because holy crap what is happening. It just goes to show how debilitating it can be to mental health to care so much about social media, societal trends, and only ones image.

Agnes is so off the rails she’s literally walking up to people asking them to unalive her and has even considered her dad. I think my general sentiment with this one is shock and a little bit appalled.

Like I said, it’s not for me but I can appreciate the uniqueness of this one…

[Lieselle Furtado · Rating 2 out of 5]

Might’ve been fun if framed differently. Even though it was so short it could’ve been shorter to be honest!

[Jamie Rosenblit · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 65% - even the SoulCycle references couldn’t save this one for me.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

If these men from Instagram still like my photos and I still have their numbers, maybe they’d meet me, like Yiannis did, and one of them will kill me. Images and phone calls, that’s all I need. Derrida, death of the written word. I wish I thought in images. Instagram is my best friend. Everything I don’t have and filled with people I’ll never know and never be, all who—of whom—are urgently changing their lives.

 
When announcing the North American rights for this debut novel – the US publisher described it as being about an “unhinged, fame-adjacent, shopaholic socialite as she traverses New York City one day in 2014 looking for someone to kill her” – which is an excellent description of this rather wild novel, perhaps missing out only its stream of consciousness narrative style and its social-media-scrolling interludes.
 
Agnes Maurer is in a relationship with a famous novelist, and herself works at a upmarket magazine – and we follow her one 2014 day starting with her 0630 spinning class where she gets rather intimately involved with the saddle and worries about her recent lip fillers all the way through to 0530 the next morning as she runs to another potential class.  And across that day she tries to find someone to kill her in what appears to be an attempt at a performative death – taking in her cold-blooded editor and a designer table knife, an ex-boyfriend now politician, an attempted gun purchase online (which ends with her only being able to afford drugs) and then a Craigs List trade for a gun all via shops, scrolling and sexual musings, as well as a series of attempts to get someone to watch a movie with her and much more (much of which I think was rather lost on me).
 
Blurbs and early reviews I have seen compare this to: Moshfegh’s “Year of Rest and Relaxation” – although I would say there that a more accurate comparison by far would be the luxury-good and cleaning-rather-than-dirt Moshfegh inspired narrative of Yasmin Zaher’s 2025 Dylan Thomas Prize winning “The Coin”.  I would also throw in the first half of this year’s Booker judges Patricia Lockwood’s 2022 Dylan Thomas Prize winning “No One Is talking About This” in its relentless energy and specifically its attempts to capture social media (although more Twitter in Lockwood’s work and Instagram here).
 
This is I think a novel which will largely depend on the reader’s reaction to and interest in the narrator’s voice and the areas of interest. The author I think draws on her own fame-adjacent experience – she was co-screenwriter on “At Any Prize” a crime drama film which competed for the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, and I have to say that world as well as the world of high-end shopping are not ones that really interest me. I did find the New York colour resonant (particularly the sections in Midtown) but overall did not think I was the right target audience for this distinctive novel.
 
My thanks to Fig Tree, Penguin General UK for an ARC via NetGalley and paper ARC.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILERS!!
I absolutely loved this book! What I suspected would be a weird, dark comedy quickly turned into a fever pitched murder thriller, where you are completely engrossed in the mind of a woman in what must be the throws of a manic depressive bipolar episode. You see the world entirely from her view and very quickly pick up on the things that don't add up - the inconsistency of addresses, the random urination and not changing her clothing but rather walking into Barneys, the deteriorating condition of an apartment she claims belongs to a successful director...and little by little, you realize she is a completely unreliable narrator to the point where you begin to question what if ANY of her background and of the day's events even really happened. Does she really have wealthy parents? WAs she ever really successful? Were some of those people she bumped into ever really friends? I thought it was brilliant, the way increasingly alarm was shown for Agnes as evidenced by Agnes' responses and also really liked how people who were initially presented as antagonists (esp the boyfriend) end up being very relatable. For ex: he begins as being painted as someone cruel. Perhaps he is. But he is also someone in a relationship with a woman who openly attempts to kill herself should he leave her, who is obsessively dependent on him, and who seems to be manic. Also, the inclusion of subtle commentary on white women's ability to evade accountability for crimes committed and easily pinpoint crimes on Black men, even when they are quite literally covered in the bloody evidence themselves, all the white purporting to be supporters of Black Lives Matter, all the while speaking to Black police officers and Black employees as if they are no more animate than the inanimate objects Agnes also talks to...I thought it was brilliant. Job well done!

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm someone who would never yuck someone else's yum; I truly believe the great thing about art is that there's something for everyone out there, and just because something doesn't resonate with me doesn't mean it lacks value or is objectively bad. I also feel like there's enough negativity in the world and if I'm not feeling something, I'll generally keep it movin' and that's that. However, given that NetGalley was kind enough to give me an ARC, needs must...

Friends, I hated this to my core. I read it at speed just so I could get to the end and see how much worse it could get. I knew nothing about the author, but reading this, knew straight away that she was a NYC transplant, especially given the fact that she felt the need to fill every page with mentions of every possible New York landmark, restaurant, shop, etc. Lo and behold, I was right. That isn't a crime in and of itself, but this entire novel reads like a high school creative writing class exercise that's so pretentiously faux-shallowly written (if that makes sense) and the characters were replaced with caricatures and what could have been an interesting premise was just destroyed by terrible writing, an obnoxious narrator, and overwrought, underedited insanity for the sake of it.

I love crazy women narrators! I love mental breakdowns and a tendency towards self-destruction! But this was just... not good.

There will be an audience that finds this subversive and quirky, and good for them, but I haven't been that person for about 20 years, so I'm afraid this one wasn't for me.

[Deages Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely devoured Agnes Lives!
This is one of those rare books that completely drops you into a character’s mind and refuses to let you leave. Agnes is messy, funny, heartbreaking, self-destructive, privileged, lonely, and painfully human all at once. The premise alone is wild—a New York socialite spending twenty-four hours trying to find someone to kill her before her next SoulCycle class—but what makes the book so compelling is that beneath all the absurdity is a sharp and surprisingly moving exploration of loneliness, identity, image, and the desperate need to be seen.
The writing is electric. Reading Agnes’s stream of consciousness felt like being trapped inside a brilliant, unraveling mind. I found myself laughing one minute, cringing the next, and then suddenly feeling deeply sad for her. The novel captures a very specific era of New York and social-media culture while also saying something universal about modern life and the ways we try to fill emotional emptiness with achievement, beauty, status, or attention.
This won’t be for everyone—it’s chaotic, intense, and unapologetically strange—but if you love character-driven literary fiction, unreliable narrators, and books that take risks, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Agnes is the kind of character who gets under your skin and stays there long after you’ve finished the last page. I can definitely see this as a tv show someday it definitely has A24 vibes.

This is by far One of the most original and memorable debuts I’ve read in a long time.

[Jamad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Agnes Lives! follows Agnes Maurer over the course of a single chaotic day in New York as she searches for someone willing to kill her before her next spin class. The novel moves through designer boutiques, toxic relationships, social media spirals and various encounters meant to expose the emptiness and excess of a certain kind of millennial Manhattan existence.

A two star review from me usually means a book was okay and had something worthwhile in it somewhere. This, unfortunately, was not even that. Hence the one star.

I genuinely do not understand the flood of four and five star reviews. For me this felt less like a fully formed novel and more like the output of a creative writing exercise where every page had to become more shocking, more frantic and more excessive than the last. There is certainly energy here, and I can see the author is aiming for satire mixed with cultural critique, but I found it exhausting rather than insightful.

The prose constantly strains for effect and the endless parade of sex, despair, wealth and self-destruction quickly became repetitive. After a while it felt as though shock value was doing most of the heavy lifting. I never found Agnes remotely interesting enough to justify spending an entire novel trapped in her orbit.

Clearly I am the wrong audience for this book. Plenty of readers seem to think it is bold, fearless and brilliant. I just found it hollow and irritating.

Let’s hope it doesn’t turn up on any prize lists.

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agnes Lives! is a novel about 24 hours in the mind of a woman in New York City who has decided she wants someone to kill her. Agnes has a creative boyfriend who belittles her, a job at a magazine, and an image to uphold through shopping and daily SoulCycle. One morning she decides to find someone to kill her, but it turns out to be difficult.

This is a novel hoping to have an impact through its stream of consciousness writing style and stark tale of a desperate privileged woman, clearly trying to fit into the 'weird girl lit' trend. At the same time, it is self-consciously in conversation with American Psycho, so much so that Agnes thinks about not only it, but also Bret Easton Ellis and Donna Tartt within her narration. I didn't find it as effective at getting across what it is was satirising as American Psycho is, with my lack of knowledge of 2014 New York City culture feeling like a limitation, but I do like the concept of her trying to find someone who will kill her as a different take on Easton Ellis' novel.

I did find that the book dragged as I was reading it, even with its fast pace thanks to the narrative style, maybe due to it feeling quite one note. I think if you like that note, it is a more hard-hitting novel, but to me the book felt a bit tame and not as shocking as I think it wanted to be.

[Gainze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Bloomsbury for the early gifted copy!

A socialite/ex-model/nepobaby(?) deals with her deteriorating mental health in New York City while searching for someone willing to kill her.

The writing is fascinating. Told entirely through Agnes's perspective, we're immersed in her thoughts on life, grief, love, and everything she encounters, all while she's fixated on finding someone to end her life. At first, I couldn't stand her, but I eventually realized that was the point. Like the people around her, I found myself frustrated by her self-absorption, which only made me understand her more. Despite her seemingly perfect life, so much of it is falling apart, and Agnes is painfully aware of it even as she pretends otherwise.

My main issue is that I think this would have worked better as a novella. The stream-of-consciousness style is compelling, but there were stretches where the plot disappeared entirely and it became more about vibes and Agnes being annoying.

Still, I really enjoyed this one. Agnes is frustrating, fascinating, and impossible to ignore, and the writing alone makes it worth reading. A messy but memorable debut that lands at a solid 3.5 stars for me.

[Jen Burrows · Rating 2 out of 5]

Agnes Lives! is a bizarre fever dream of a novel. Part social commentary, part character study, all increasingly unhinged stream of consciousness, it follows one day in Agnes' life as she desperately tries to find someone to end it.

Agnes' voice is so singular and relentless that it completely dominates the reading experience. You are thrown straight into the chaos from the very first lines, but somehow Newton still manages to ramp up the tension throughout; as Agnes becomes more consumed by her obsessions, the narrative spirals out of control. There are some interesting themes of identity, performance and power, but any moments of perspicacity or dark humour are ultimately overwhelmed by the chaotic, disorientating prose.

There's a strange charm to Agnes Lives! that makes it difficult to dismiss outright. Some readers will love it, many will hate it - but even when I wasn't enjoying it, I was never bored. Unapologetically distinctive, it's a really memorable read.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*

[Sam Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuckkkkkkkkkk

Ok babes, this is THE book for all of my unhinged lit loving queens out there. She’s a continuous stream of consciousness and absolute manic behavior, but I love dear, sweet Agnes all the same.

I have been BEGGGGGING Bloomsbury Publishing for access to this book for WEEKS! And yall, my anticipation did NOT let me down!!

So thankful to the pub, Hallie Elizabeth Newtown, and NetGalley for the advanced digital access before June 23, 2026.

Agnes is so desperately in search of someone to k!ll her. Yep. She’s done with life, but not in a weepy depressive manner, but rather she’s just seeking an artistic exit, as she feels to be a burden on her award-winning director of a boyfriend, her wealthy family, and the eclectic individuals within her posse. But instead of her request being fulfilled, what she accomplishes instead plummets her further into the depths of despair and solitude.

Agnes is living through one HUGE manic episode and we’re along for the ride. So buckle up, yall. Bc the journey is BUMPY, but so so fun.

[Chelsea Knowles]

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*.

Agnes Lives! follows Agnes who wants someone to murder her after she has done a SoulCycle class. She lives in New York City and is desperately trying to fit in. She does what she’s supposed to and tries to be quiet for her boyfriend so he doesn’t get sick of her. Over 24 hours she tries to find someone to murder her but none of the people she meets will do it or are good contenders.

This book is told in a stream of consciousness style as if we are in the mind of Agnes. This is fast paced and you just get thrown into the narrative. It was easy to understand Agnes and why she felt the way she did. She really tries to live her life in the way she is supposed to, like how she behaves around her boyfriend as she minimises herself. That said, I do struggle with this type of narrative as I find it to be quite choppy so this isn’t a new favourite for me.

[verynicebook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, maybe 2.5 stars. I am a bit on the fence with this one. I enjoyed it at times but.. something was a bit off for me. I did find it to be quite bizarre and I liked the fragmented writing style, albeit it being a tad confusing at times. This book takes place during the course of one day and boy does Agnes sure know how to fill up a single day! I found Agnes Lives! to be oddly funny at times but hard to stay engaged in the very stream of consciousness and sporadic writing style. Agnes Lives! left me with some questions, mostly details I found a bit silly and pointless - for example why did this randomly take place in 2014? I don't want to spoil anything but the ending also left me disappointed. Overall this was fine, but I might be getting as bit sick of the unlikeable, mentally unstable and out-of-touch millennial woman living in and obsessed with NYC. Thanks very much to the publisher for the review copy!

[Jake Boyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the advance copy!

This book follows Agnes, a rich New Yorker who is determined to find someone to murder her before her next Soul Cycle class. In concept, I thought that sounded like great fun when I first read the description. What I found inside was something far more lyric, and not nearly as funny as I'd anticipated. That's not necessarily a bad thing; I will sit through quite a bit of nonsense if the writing is beautiful and soulful enough to keep me going. Sadly, I didn't find that to be the case with this book.

Agnes Lives! feels a bit like if Marnie from Girls was the speaker of Alice Notley's The Descent of Alette; which should be high praise, except for the fact that Marnie is deeply annoying and I don't want to spend time in her head. In a re-write, I would have dialed up either the humor or Agnes' character development, so that the reader has something to latch onto to keep going through all the poetic half-jokes.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a number of great things to say about the writting style of Agnes Lives! The story is told through the narrator's perspective in a stream of continous thoughts. I particuarly enjoyed the one sided dialouge, which felt really true to the narrator's persona, and attepts to project calm and civility despite her unraveling. At times the plot is quite dark and at other times it can be quite funny. I'd liken the unraveling of the book to She's a Lamb or The Coin.

Where the book missed the mark for me was in the build up. It's clear that Agnes has experienced a lot of trauma in her life and lacks the support she needs. However, I wish that there had been more setup in the book to connect and understand her backstory, and how she ended up in her current mindset.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for an ARC in exchnage for my honest review!

[Alishia Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

Thank you Libro.FM for the gifted ALC! The writing and narration style reminded me so much of Open Wide, and I did enjoy that internal rambling thoroughly. I enjoyed it in this as well, but where the previously mentioned had a thinner plot, this plot could have gone so many directions and I feel that it got lost in the rant. That may have been the point entirely, the casualness of the task conflicting with the seriousness of it.

Her thoughts were chaotic, messy, and relatable - but her numbness to the way she’s treated as a woman enraged me. The feminine rage was absent, left in place a desire to not exist instead. I do believe she got her power back, in a sense, and I’ve never found myself rooting for a character to get what they wanted when what they want is so wrong.

Definitely be mindful of the SA and Suicide trigger warnings.