Fitzcarraldo Editions’ commissioning editor Joely Day has acquired UK & Commonwealth (exc. Can) rights to Makenna Goodman’s Helen of Nowhere, an electrifying novel about the delights and dangers of starting over, from Sarah Bowlin of Aevitas Creative Management. Fitzcarraldo Editions will publish the novel on 29 January 2026.
In the middle of the countryside, a realtor is showing a disgraced professor around an idyllic house. She speaks not only about the home’s many wonderful qualities but about its previous owner, the mystifying Helen, whose presence still seems to suffuse every fixture. Through hearing stories of Helen’s chosen way of living, the man begins to see that his story is not actually over – rather, he is being offered a chance to buy his way into the simple life, close to the land, that’s always been out of reach to him. But as the evening fades into black, he will learn that the asking price may be much higher, and stranger, than anticipated. 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 is the author of two novels, Helen of Nowhere and The Shame, and has written for international publications including the 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.
Goodman said, ‘It’s an absolute honour to publish Helen of Nowhere with Fitzcarraldo, a courageous and visionary publishing house whose books seem to be remaking the world of literature today.’
Day said, ‘I first read Helen of Nowhere in two sittings and felt a genuine rush. I can only describe the experience of reading the novel, of falling through its many doorways into new realms, all of which throw some facet of contemporary life into sharp relief, as feverish. I came out the other side spellbound, feeling that Makenna has managed to capture the insanity of our age perfectly. The novel’s meditations on art and freedom, on truth, and on our relationship to nature and to one another are fresh and profound, the prose suffused with a biting, slippery wit. I am honoured to be welcoming Makenna to Fitzcarraldo, and I cannot wait for Helen of Nowhere to meet its readers.’