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Good Girl

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025

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Good Girl

By: Aria Aber
Narrated by: Mozhan Navabi
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Bloomsbury presents Good Girl by Aria Aber, read by Mozhan Navabi.

**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
‘Nila shines in her wildness, in her yearning for beauty and freedom' 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?


‘A must-read ... breathtaking, profound, so fresh’ Guardian
‘Vivid, shockingly moving ... unwinds complex histories and legacies - of people, places and politics alike - with a deft touch’ Financial Times
‘With her novel, Aber has made the world more spacious: more people will find a place to fit’ New York Times
‘Once in a blue moon a debut novel comes along, announcing a voice quite unlike any other’ Los Angeles Times Coming of Age Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Islamic Heritage Literary Fiction Women's Voices World Literature Funny
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Critic reviews

A beautiful coming-of-age story about identity and self-discovery
A must-read … Dark, breathtaking, profound, so fresh … Nila shines in her wildness, in her yearning for beauty and freedom
The coming-of-age story you need to read this month ... Literally pulsates with the sounds of the Berlin nightclub scene ... Aria Aber is an author to watch.
An astonishing and compelling book ... A revelation
Aber touches the heart of a young woman struggling to find herself in the heat of clashing cultures ... You’ll be immediately arrested by the haunting beauty of her work and the way desire pushes against the seams of despair
Impressive … At heart, the novel is about the allure of freedom and the estrangement from others that is the cost of both exile and artistic creation … Aber writes with the masterful precision of an archivist … Exile, migration, displacement: These will splinter even the most solid self. But out of the shards, it is possible to make art, as Nila finally realizes – and as Aber has done in this touching novel
A vivid, energising, audacious journey through a dreamlike drug-steeped Berlin, GOOD GIRL is as full of can't look away disasters, as of moments of beautiful humanity, and gorgeous, sumptuous sentences. Powerful, unexpected, and utterly absorbing. I flew through it (Jenny Mustard)
Captures the ache of Muslim girlhood and the vertigo of never feeling quite at home ... Aber ingests the millennial playbook and spits out something that happens to be more interesting
This book transported us into the underground world of Berlin club culture, on a wild ride of youth, excess and self-discovery
The kind of writing that sinks its teeth into you, and the only reason you want it to relent is so you can get to the next chapter. Good Girl was my standout novel of the year... unforgettable
An extraordinary debut … A truly masterful work of prose, Good Girl amplifies the voice of a young woman who dreams of leading the life of an artist
A book that deserves to be among 2025’s standouts; a novel which ought to be read far and wide
Truly masterful, desperately alive
Reminiscent of An Education and On the Road, Good Girl is a highly engaging coming-of-age novel about a young artist
This book made me feel alive
Does beauty still exist the morning after? From the refugees of Kabul to the ravers of the underground scene, Aber denudes her characters until you are the one finally rubbing at your own face, wondering what will greet you if you tried to capture the picture
A compelling coming-of-age story
Vivid, shockingly moving ... She unwinds complex histories and legacies — of people, places and politics alike — with a deft touch
Aria Aber’s exciting debut novel finds the daughter of an Afghan refugee sidestepping disapproval and racism as she dives into Berlin’s nightworld ... With her novel, Aber has made the world more spacious: More people will find a place to fit
All stars
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It's been some time since I've read a character so fully realised. I cared about her deeply which made it a hard listen in some parts.

Wonderful

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There’s a lot to learn and appreciate in this but the above spoils it imo. The narrator does her best but would be better with more voices

Too much drugs, sex and techno

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This is a real story for so many. And, a beautiful journey into the fraught world of a second generation immigrant in a modern and divided world.

Outstanding coming of age

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Finished and this book isn’t really anything. I’m bored it’s repetitive and is reminding me of kairos, in termed of themes of power dynamics and toxic relationships. It’s a lot of sex drugs and identity politics. Not for me

Not for me but maybe a taste level

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A novel about migrant identity in 90s Berlin is festooned with constant drug taking. This undermines the character's desire to be an individual and I didn't finish tge book.

Drugs. Drugs. Drugs.

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