Nobody Is Ever Missing - Softcover

'Fierce, funny, haunting... Elyria may be adrift, but her observations are sharp and original' -- Book of the Month, Sunday Express

'Lacey has created something of striking intelligence and originality. Her gift lies not least in knowing how to alleviate the psychological intensity with finely honed darts of mordant wit. An arresting and highly accomplished debut deserving of the acclaim it has already received in the US' -- Daily Mail

'It was the voice on the page that drew me into Nobody Is Ever Missing: incantatory, cool, and unerringly tuned to fresh detail. It's unusual to find a book at once freewheeling, controlled, and startlingly observant, but this is one' --Book of the year chosen by Nathan Heller, New Yorker

'It is witty, knowing and lyrical... There is much impressive writing here. Lacey excels at describing the way a shaky soul locates strange meanings everywhere [yet it's also] sometimes funny. It contains a terrific amount of insight into agony and courage, and suffering with style. Berryman, I think, would have been proud' -- Spectator

'Painful it may be, but the book is also wry, surprising and blackly funny, a queasily intimate travelogue of inner and outer journeys. In her portrait of a mind under pressure, tying itself in knots, hovering between overwhelming sensation and disassociated numbness, Lacey has produced a novel of uncomfortable power' -- Guardian

'The writing is pellucid. Elyria's thoughts flow with easy grace, in long, run-on sentences, revealing troubled eddies with compelling clarity and perfect ear. A very fine debut so moving as well as so delightful' -- Literary Review

'Fascinating... A startling reminder of human vulnerability and the dangers of isolation. An unconventional, gripping narrative' ***** -- The Lady

'Like a cigarette packet, this disturbing but impressively sustained debut should carry a warning: read only if feeling robust. In long, looping sentences, Lacey enmeshes us in Elly's thoughts as they bash round in circles like trapped bees' --Intelligent Life

'The concept [of finding one's self] is rather old hat these days but Catherine Lacey has rebooted it in her debut novel... It's a well written novel that makes you think. Compelling and fascinating. Lacey's debut is a fable of our age' --Independent on Sunday

'It was the voice on the page that drew me into Nobody Is Ever Missing: incantatory, cool, and unerringly tuned to fresh detail. It's unusual to find a book at once freewheeling, controlled, and startlingly observant, but this is one' --Book of the year chosen by Nathan Heller, New Yorker

Without telling her family, Elyria takes a one-way flight to New Zealand, abruptly leaving her stable life in Manhattan, her home, her career and her loving husband. As the people she has left behind scramble to figure out what has happened to her, Elyria embarks on a hitchhiker's odyssey, testing fate by travelling in the cars of overly kind women and deeply strange men, tacitly being swept into the lives of strangers, and sleeping in fields, forests, and public parks. As she journeys from Wellington to Picton, Takaka, Kaikoura and onwards she asks herself, what is it that I am missing? How can a person be missing?