Agnes Lives! - Hardcover

by Hallie Elizabeth Newton (Author)

"An astonishing debut as mesmerizing as it is unnerving." --Joyce Carol Oates

A day-in-the-life debut novel about a fading socialite on the hunt for someone to kill her before her next SoulCycle class.

"A tale of suspense, a statement, a cry for help, and a delicious tour-de-force." --Nell Zink

New York City, 2014. Agnes Maurer seeks a willing murderer and wonders what she should wear. Candidates include: an icy magazine editor with a special cutlery set; an eccentric designer from her past; and Agnes's cruel novelist boyfriend. As she Ubers from Upper East Side shopping to Craigslist gun deals, Agnes' desperation becomes an exhibition, a swan song of millennial sexuality as internalized abuse and consummate style, with the knob righty-tightened all the way.

Newton's prose is disturbingly fun, relentless, shattering. A crafted study of existential despair that culminates in a worthy, intense denouement.

Author Biography

Hallie Elizabeth Newton was born in Mississippi. A recipient of NYU's Goldwater Fellowship, she won first prize for fiction in Columbia Journal's 2020 Winter Contest. Agnes Lives! is her debut novel. She lives in New York.