An electric powered debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her yr of self-discovery—“a stunning coming-of-age story” (Publishers Weekly, starred assessment) and a portrait of the artist as a young lady set in a Berlin that may’t get away its records
A woman can get in nearly anywhere, even supposing she will’t get out.
“A no-bullsh*t, need to-examine debut.”—Kaveh Akbar
“Kaleidoscopic, full of fashion and soul.”—Raven Leilani
“I cherished this e-book.”—Leslie Jamison
One of Autostraddle’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025
In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and tablets fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the 20th century, nineteen-year-vintage Nila at remaining unearths her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her formative years disappointing her circle of relatives even as searching for her voice as a young female and artist.
Then inside the haze of Berlin’s mythical nightlife, Nila meets Marlowe, an American creator whose fading literary superstar opens her eyes to a existence of personal and inventive freedom. But as Nila unearths herself pulled in addition into Marlowe’s controlling orbit, unsightly, barely submerged racial tensions begin to roil Germany—and Nila’s circle of relatives and community. After a year of running from her future, Nila stops to ask herself the maximum vital query: Who does she need to be?
A tale of affection and circle of relatives, raves and Kafka, staying up all night time and surviving the errors of teenagers, Good Girl is the virtuosic debut novel with the aid of a celebrated younger poet and, now, a chief new voice in fiction.