Agnes Lives!

"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: Hallie Elizabeth Newton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 06/23/2026
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.78lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.80w x 0.97d
ISBN: 9781639738564


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/06/2026
Booklist 06/01/2026

About the Author
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.