Nothing Can Hurt You

by Nicola Maye Goldberg

Overview

A “captivating, serpentine, and affecting” (Megan Abbott) literary thriller inspired by the true story of a college student's killing.

BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER 2020 - PEOPLE MAGAZINE, VOGUE, CNN, REFINERY29, CRIMEREADS, and more

“Fascinating.” -Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review

“Gone Girl for the new decade.” -Vogue.com

On a cold day in 1997, student Sara Morgan was killed in the woods surrounding her liberal arts college in upstate New York. Her boyfriend, Blake Campbell, confessed, his plea of temporary insanity raising more questions than it answered.

In the wake of his acquittal, the case comes to haunt a strange and surprising network of community members, from the young woman who discovers Sara's body to the junior reporter who senses its connection to convicted local serial killer John Logan. Others are looking for retribution or explanation: Sara's half sister, stifled by her family's bereft silence about Blake, poses as a babysitter and seeks out her own form of justice, while the teenager Sara used to babysit starts writing to Logan in prison.

A propulsive, taut tale of voyeurism and obsession, Nothing Can Hurt You dares to examine gendered violence not as an anomaly, but as the very core of everyday life. Tracing the concentric circles of violence rippling out from Sara's murder, Nicola Maye Goldberg masterfully conducts an unforgettable chorus of disparate voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635577761
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	06/29/2021
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Nicole Maye Goldberg is a graduate of Bard College and Columbia University. She is the author of the novella Other Women (Sad Spell Press, 2016) and the poetry collection The Doll Factory (Dancing Girl Press, 2017). Her work has appeared in CrimeReads, The Quietus, Queen Mob's Tea House, Winter Tangerine, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Like a gothic Olive Kitteridge mixed with Gillian Flynn . . . Masterful.” —Vogue

“Fans of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl will love Nothing Can Hurt You. A terrifying and captivating story [that] will have you turning pages faster than ever.” —CNN

“Haunting, powerful . . . Both immediate and expansive . . . Goldberg makes urgently clear that violence against women is not merely an insidious interloper in our society, but a part of its very foundation.” —Refinery29

“Powerful . . . An intriguing look at the ways in which gender violence ripples through an entire community.” —The Amazon Book Review, "Summer Thrillers You Won't Want to Miss"

“Fascinating . . . the book is less about the murder itself than about its aftermath, the long tendrils of guilt, sadness, anger and confusion that stretch out from a single act, wrapping themselves around everyone they touch.” —Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Book Review

“Captivating, serpentine and affecting, Nicola Maye Goldberg's Nothing Can Hurt You subverts the tropes of the 'dead girl' genre in ways that impart its female characters with a dark majesty and mystery all their own.” —Megan Abbott, author of GIVE ME YOUR HAND and YOU WILL KNOW ME

“Nothing Can Hurt You is smart and human and true, simultaneously frightening and tender. Goldberg has written a gripping and tremendously searing book, one that will stay with me for a long time in ways I can't yet entirely imagine.” —Leslie Jamison, author of THE RECOVERING and MAKE IT SCREAM, MAKE IT BURN

“A haunting, explosive tale, it will keep you turning the pages until the very end.” —Spy

From the Publisher

…fascinating…[Nothing Can Hurt You] is less about the murder itself than about its aftermath, the long tendrils of guilt, sadness, anger and confusion that stretch out from a single act, wrapping themselves around everyone they touch.

The New York Times Book Review - Sarah Lyall