Other Women
And Other Stories
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Apr 28, 2026
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- $13.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A slyly subversive bildungsroman about misplaced love, by the author of the lauded novel Nothing Can Hurt You
After dropping out of college, a young woman wanders through New York both invisible and vulnerable, studying the city’s strong magic and longing for a man she knows will never love her back. Salvation appears to arrive when Charlotte Herzfeld, the young wife of a successful businessman, hires her as a live-in nanny to accompany the family on a trip to Berlin. As the Herzfelds begin to crack under the weight of their secrets, she finds herself in a more precarious position than ever before.
Reflective yet propulsive, and told in a voice both ingenuous and insightful, Other Women is a timeless and all-too-relatable tale of unwise decisions and unfortunate fixations.
This volume includes three new short stories and an introduction from Megan Nolan.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Goldberg (Nothing Can Hurt You) pairs her 2016 novella with three short works in this impactful volume. Other Women follows an unnamed college dropout in New York City, who addresses her narration to an ex-lover. She runs through memories she shared with the unnamed man, such as hooking up after an art show and watching The X Files together. After she learns he's engaged to another woman, the narrator takes a job as a nanny for two children and accompanies the family to Berlin. Even in a new city, however, she's tormented by the feeling of being jilted. The fragmented narrative is carried along by things the narrator wished she'd said to her lover: "I wanted to say: Don't fuck me like you love me if you don't." The other stories are "Paris 1979," about two CIA agents surveilling an actress believed to be a Soviet spy; "All Girls," which begins with the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl named Jenny and tracks rumors circulating at her school about what happened to her; and "The Virgin," concerning college student Lydia, who has a bad sexual experience with a boy from her class. Each entry is told from an intimate point of view and showcases Goldberg's pared-down prose. It's a memorable gallery of women on the brink.
