In the novel Helen of Nowhere by Montpelier author Makenna Goodman, a disgraced professor contemplating a move to the country tours a home with a realtor. She tells him about the woman who used to live there, Helen.
But Goodman's second novel is not easily or accurately summarized by its plot alone.
In writing the book, Goodman drew on both classic philosophical texts and a staple of the back-to-the-land movement, Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing.
Goodman's first novel, The Shame, came out in 2020. Her writing has appeared in the New York Review of Books, ASTRA Magazine, the Harvard Review and other publications. Recently she had an essay published in the New York Times Opinion section.
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