Good Girl

“An exhilarating debut novel” (R.O. Kwon, The New York Times Book Review) about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of self-discovery—a portrait of the artist as a young woman set in a Berlin that can’t escape its history A girl can get in almost anywhere, even if she can’t get out. SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION • LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • A BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, Elle, Electric Lit, The Skinny “A no-bullsh*t, must-read debut.”—Kaveh Akbar “Kaleidoscopic, full of style and soul.”—Raven Leilani “Aber writes with . . . masterful precision.”—Leila Lalami, The Atlantic "Once in a blue moon a debut novel comes along, announcing a voice quite unlike any other, with a layered story and sentences that crackle and pop, begging to be read aloud. Aria Aber’s splendid Good Girl introduces just such a voice . . . Aber, an award-winning poet, strikes gold here, much like Kaveh Akbar did in last year’s acclaimed Martyr!"—Los Angeles Times In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, nineteen-year-old Nila at last finds 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 adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist. Then in the haze of Berlin’s legendary nightlife, Nila meets Marlowe, an American writer whose fading literary celebrity opens her eyes to a life of personal and artistic freedom. But as Nila finds herself pulled further into Marlowe’s controlling orbit, ugly, barely submerged racial tensions begin to roil Germany—and Nila’s family and community. After a year of running from her future, Nila stops to ask herself the most important question: Who does she want to be? A story of love and family, raves and Kafka, staying up all night and surviving the mistakes of youth, Good Girl is the virtuosic debut novel by a celebrated young poet and, now, a major new voice in fiction.
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**Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025** A portrait of the artist as a young woman in a Berlin that can't escape its history: an electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of nightclubs, bad romance, and self-discovery 'Kaleidoscopic, full of style and soul' Raven Leilani 'A must-read ... Dark, breathtaking, profound, so fresh' Guardian 'A no-bullshit must-read debut' Kaveh Akbar 'Delicious, propulsive reading' Vogue In Berlin's underground, where techno rattles buildings still scarred with the violence of the last century, nineteen-year-old Nila finds her tribe. In their company she can escape the parallel city that made her, the public housing block packed with refugees and immigrants, where the bathrooms are infested with silverfish and the walls outside are graffitied with swastikas. Escaping into the clubs, Nila tries to outrun the shadow of her dead mother, once a feminist revolutionary; her catatonic, defeated father; and the cab-driver uncles who seem to idle on every corner. To anyone who asks, her family is Greek, not Afghani. And then Nila meets American writer Marlowe Woods, whose literary celebrity, though fading, opens her eyes to a world of patrons and festivals, one that imbues her dreams of life as an artist with new possibility. But as she finds herself drawn further into his orbit and ugly, barely submerged tensions begin to roil and claw beneath the city's cosmopolitan veneer, everything she hopes for, hates, and believes about herself will be challenged. 'Rarely has the wildness and bewilderment of youth been conveyed with such richly textured heat' Garth Greenwell
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**Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025** **A Time Book of the Year 2025** A portrait of the artist as a young woman in a Berlin that can't escape its history: an electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of nightclubs, bad romance, and self-discovery 'Kaleidoscopic, full of style and soul' Raven Leilani 'A must-read ... Dark, breathtaking, profound, so fresh' Guardian 'A no-bullshit must-read debut' Kaveh Akbar 'Delicious, propulsive reading' Vogue Born in Germany to Afghan parents, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice. Now in Berlin's techno-filled warehouses, their walls still scarred by the ravages of the last century, she has found her tribe. Then Nila meets American writer Marlowe. As she is sucked into his seductive but controlling orbit, and ugly racial tensions begin to roil through Germany, she is forced to ask herself the question she's been running from: who does she want to be? 'Rarely has the wildness and bewilderment of youth been conveyed with such richly textured heat' Garth Greenwell
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UN DEBUT PODEROSO, ENFURECIDO Y NECESARIO. «UN ÉXITO TOTAL» PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NOMINADO AL WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 Con una conmovedora perspectiva sobre nuestros tiempos, Good Girl huele a resaca química y cemento mojado, como un domingo cualquiera en Berlín En el universo underground y artístico de Berlín, donde el techno y las drogas palpitan en antiguos almacenes atravesados por las guerras del siglo XX, Nila lucha por entender quién quiere ser. Nacida en Alemania de padres afganos, criada en viviendas públicas cubiertas de esvásticas y magnetizada por la filosofía, la fotografía y el sexo, Nila se mueve en una huida hacia adelante dando forma a un Bildungsroman intoxicado y poético. Aber construye un mundo implacable en un Berlín mugriento y desenreda historias y legados con una pluma hábil que respeta y admite la autodestrucción como herramienta efectiva de autodescubrimiento. La crítica ha dicho: «Un debut poderoso que sumerge al lector en una batalla feroz entre la identidad cultural de una joven afgana y su anhelo de libertad. [...] Profunda e innovadora, Good Girl es un libro imprescindible». The Guardian «Abrid Good Girl por cualquier página y os engullirá su belleza magnética y la forma en la que el deseo se abre paso a través de las grietas de la desesperación». Ron Charles, The Washington Post «Se parece de una manera inesperada y gratificante a varios clásicos del género - Los años de aprendizaje de Wilhelm Meister de Goethe o Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë-. [...] Poderosísima». Anahid Nersessian, The New Yorker «Un coming of age sorprendente. [...] Un éxito total». Publishers Weekly, reseña destacada «Deliciosa y apremiante. [...] La descripción del deseo -hacia los amantes, el arte y una vida diferente- es muy conmovedora». Vogue «El coming of age que debes leer y que vibra igual que los bajos de un bafle berlinés. No pierdan de vista a Aria Aber». Glamour «Asombroso, cautivador y convincente: [...] una revelación». Harper's Bazaar «Una lectura vertiginosa [en la que] cada frase brilla con luz propia y cuya textura visceral confirma que detrás de Good Girl tenemos a una auténtica poeta». Los Angeles Review of Books «A caballo entre Una educación y En el camino, Aber nos ofrece una novela cautivadora escrita con herencia oscura y aplomo poético». The Irish Times «Una odisea por el mundo underground de la cultura de club berlinesa con todo lo salvaje de la juventud, los excesos y el autodescubrimiento». Service95 (plataforma de estilo de vida de Dua Lipa) «Un debut maravilloso, me ha encantado. [...] Felicidades por este precioso logro, Aria Aber». Sarah Jessica Parker «Luminosa. Una historia muy tierna sobre la identidad y el autodescubrimiento». Elle, "Los libros de culto que no podemos esperar a leer en 2025" «Un debut impresionante que nos ofrece un vívido retrato de una vida plagada de inestabilidad y claustrofobia, [ ] Aber construye un mundo duro e implacable en un Berlín mugriento y desenreda historias y legados -de gente, lugares y política- con una pluma hábil». Financial Times