Description

‘Gripping, sharp and sultry’ PANDORA SYKES

‘Superbly unsettling’ GUARDIAN

‘A gothic Olive Kitteridge mixed with Gillian Flynn’ VOGUE

On a cold day in 1997, student Sara Morgan was killed in the woods surrounding her liberal arts college in upstate New York. When suspicion falls on the person closest to her – her boyfriend, Blake – the case comes to haunt the friends, family and acquaintances of the couple in strange and unexpected ways. Some look for answers, while others are set on retribution; from the young woman who discovers the body to Sara’s half-sister who, years later, seeks out her own form of justice.

A propulsive, taut tale of obsession and voyeurism, Nothing Can Hurt You pieces together a chorus of unforgettable voices to explore the far-reaching consequences of one single act of violence.

Publisher 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 I read this in one sitting. Fascinating and unique -- Bella Mackie, author of 'Jog On' [An] alarming, transfixing tale told from several different vantage points ... A more literary Gone Girl for the new decade * US Vogue * Gripping, sharp and sultry - I couldn't put it down -- Pandora Sykes An intoxicating, lyrical and honest journey into the traumatic murder of a young woman and its reverberating anguish ... I could not stop reading this book, and was haunted by it long after I finished -- Allie Rowbottom, author of 'Jell-O Girls' Fascinating, intimate and clever; it reminded me of Three Women. Reading it was like playing with Russian dolls, but in reverse -- Tomasz Jedrowski, author of 'Swimming in the Dark' I read the first page and couldn't stop. So original -- Julie Mayhew, author of 'Impossible Causes' Tender, brutal, beautiful. This book haunts me -- Kirsty Logan, author of 'The Gracekeepers' A melancholy thing about the stories and images and people that haunt, rather than another post-mortem on a pretty dead girl. I loved it -- Hayley Campbell A daring, electric debut ... This novel feels wholly new - Goldberg elegantly destroys all the "dead girl" tropes we've tired of, and in doing so reinvents the thriller for a new generation - her heroines, like her voice, are wise, darkly funny and often startlingly beautiful -- Rebecca Godfrey, author of 'Under the Bridge' Nicola Maye Goldberg articulates a new kind of darkness within the female psyche - one that makes this book pulse forth with danger and suspense. Between the unexpected turns and the sharp sentences, it's nearly impossible to stop reading -- Chelsea Hodson, author of 'Tonight I'm Someone Else' 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 The pleasure of falling into Goldberg's taut thriller is in some ways a trap, a literary trompe l'oeil that momentarily screens us from what Nothing Can Hurt You is actually about. Investigating the relationships between women, voyeurism and violence, Goldberg elegantly excavates the ways in which crime simultaneously repulses and compels us, she reminds us why we are forever obsessed with looking at things that we are not supposed to see -- Alissa Bennett