Philosophically and formally adventurous, at once intimate and cosmic in scope, Helen of Nowhere asks: what must we give up in exchange for true happiness?
Makenna Goodman
Makenna Goodman is an American author, writer, and editor
Her first novel, The Shame, published in 2020, was named a Best Book of the Year (Harvard Review and The White Review).
She has written literary criticism, essays, interviews, and short fiction for international publications including New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Harvard Review, The White Review, BOMB, The Common, ASTRA Magazine and Mousse Magazine. Also an editor, she is based in Vermont.
Her second novel, Helen of Nowhere, was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2026.
Makenna Goodman on Helen of Nowhere
I was inspired by two Helens. Helen Nearing, a violinist and former medium to Jiddu Krishnamurti, who co-wrote a book about leaving the city and living ‘the good life’ in Vermont with her husband Scott, a failed academic freshly cast out of the Socialist Party. And Helen of Troy, the daughter of Zeus who was famously blamed for the Trojan War, and whose story is constantly being debated and remade. I wanted to explore how we govern, punish, teach and love, through a warped Helen prism. A third Helen was required for the spell to work, so I wrote this book.
Read the full interview here.
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Philosophically and formally adventurous, at once intimate and cosmic in scope, Helen of Nowhere asks: what must we give up in exchange for true happiness?
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An extract from Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman
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