Booker Prize 2026 · Audiobook Review
Written by Makenna Goodman · Narrated by Michelle Asante
A short, formally adventurous novel, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2026. Narrated by Michelle Asante, Helen of Nowhere explores nature, happiness and the compromises of modern life through one very strange house viewing. Ambitious and unconventional—but would it draw me in, or leave me wandering in the fog?
The Story
The novel begins oddly, introducing its four characters and then presenting a list of chapter headings before the story has properly started. An unnamed man arrives to view a remote house, where the estate agent tells him about Helen, its former occupant. What begins as an ordinary viewing gradually becomes a strange, theatrical meditation on abandoning modern life and returning to nature.
Goodman raises questions about marriage, motherhood, chemicals, government and big business, but the ideas too often felt delivered as arguments rather than allowed to emerge from the story. Much of it seemed familiar, and despite an increasingly surreal conclusion, I struggled to become involved.
The Narrator
Michelle Asante gives a clear and controlled performance. Hearing a female narrator introduce a male point of view initially threw me, but I soon adjusted.
The narration was never the problem. Asante handles the book’s difficult structure capably, although the material gives her limited opportunity to develop distinctive characters or much emotional range. A solid performance, but she had little to work with.
The Waffleometer
At under four hours, Helen of Nowhere is certainly short, but brevity does not always mean economy. Its arguments about chemicals, government, big business and the failures of modern life felt prolonged and repetitive. I did not strongly disagree with them; I simply felt that I had heard them all before.
Scores
Story & Writing: 1.5 / 5
Narration: 3/ 5
Waffleometer: 4.5 / 5 (lower is better)
The Verdict
I tried, but I could not get on with Helen of Nowhere. Its unusual construction and surreal touches are ambitious, but the characters never came alive for me and its ideas too often overwhelmed the story.
Michelle Asante delivers a perfectly sound narration, but she has little to work with. Other listeners may respond to the book’s political urgency and experimental form; I found it repetitive, disengaging and rather hard work for something so short.