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

**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’ 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

"A beautiful coming-of-age story about identity and self-discovery" - ELLE, The Cult Books We Can’t Wait To Read In 2025

"A must-read … Dark, breathtaking, profound, so fresh … Nila shines in her wildness, in her yearning for beauty and freedom" - GUARDIAN

"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." - GLAMOUR, 19 best new books to buy this month

"An astonishing and compelling book ... A revelation" - HARPER'S BAZAAR, Five debut female authors to read in 2025

"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" - WASHINGTON POST

"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" - THE ATLANTIC

"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" - VULTURE

"This book transported us into the underground world of Berlin club culture, on a wild ride of youth, excess and self-discovery" - SERVICE95

"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" - STYLIST, Books of the Year

"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" - nb MAGAZINE

"A book that deserves to be among 2025’s standouts; a novel which ought to be read far and wide" - BUZZ

"Truly masterful, desperately alive" - nb magazine

"Reminiscent of An Education and On the Road, Good Girl is a highly engaging coming-of-age novel about a young artist" - IRISH TIMES

"This book made me feel alive" - THE MILLIONS

"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" - INTERVIEW

"A compelling coming-of-age story" - HARPERS BAZAAR

"Vivid, shockingly moving ... She unwinds complex histories and legacies — of people, places and politics alike — with a deft touch" - FINANCIAL TIMES

"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" - NEW YORK TIMES

"A book of self-making and unmaking, of self-destruction and self-discovery ... A book coursing with desire and shame, flight and pursuit, Good Girl is ultimately about the desperate need to find oneself and one’s home, whatever the cost. Where home might not be a place or a people at all, but the world of art and literature itself" - BETWEEN THE COVERS

"If you haven’t yet heard of her, you’re going to know her ... Every line is intentional and purposeful, gleaming with sharp, incisive meaning, while taking you on the journey of their narrator’s life, and this one is no different. One gets to have it all in such a case: at the line level, the plot level, and the novel as a whole, it’s a marvel" - LITERARY HUB

"Once in a blue moon a debut novel comes along, announcing a voice quite unlike any other, with a layered story and sentences that crackle and pop, begging to be read aloud ... Gorgeously packed with epiphanies on literature and philosophy, a tale of seductive risks and the burdens of diaspora" - LOS ANGELES TIMES

"An expertly crafted, sprawling work, its prose alternately icily precise and drenched in emotion" - LITERARY REVIEW

"Praise for Aria Aber: She is her own poet, her own voice, and her debut is my favorite volume of poetry this year" - Paris Review

"I appreciate a book of poems where the speaker (and, by extension, the self) aren’t let off the hook by whatever other concerns the book is circling. But, even in that process, there’s a real generosity and warmth extended, balancing not only accountability to the always shifting world but also forgiveness" - GQ

"An origin story and the shattering of an origin story at once. It sets out with an impossible task: How does a voice fill the gap, the void, of life as a perpetual refugee?" - The Rumpus