The story of two young women whose friendship offered—and demanded—more than either should share. A powerful exploration of the boundaries between ourselves and those we are closest to that poses questions about the nature of intimacy, the many flavors of betrayal, and the value of female friendships. For fans of Sally Rooney and Claire North.

THE NOBODIES
by Alanna Schubach
Blackstone Publishing, June 2022
(via Sterling Lord)

When they meet as children, Nina and Jess form a strong bond, one that quickly intensifies when they discover they share an extraordinary power: they can swap bodies. As they grow older, they use this ability to steal into each other’s lives, unearthing secrets and betraying confidences. Nina, introspective and self-conscious, is seduced by the turbulence of Jess’ life, but also possessive of her bolder friend. Jess, meanwhile, envies the stability of Nina’s world, and wishes to seize it for herself. Now, Jess has re-entered Nina’s life after a long separation. She is in crisis after her father’s death, and says she needs Nina’s help, but Nina fears she may try to take far more than that. Over the course of this novel, they reckon with the truth, the beauty, and the horror of walking in another person’s shoes.
THE NOBODIES is the story of a power struggle that poses questions about the nature of intimacy, the power of female friendships, the extent to which we can ever “know” someone, and if in possessing another, we might transcend ourselves.

Alanna Schubach is a fiction writer, freelance journalist, and teacher. She was named a NYC Emerging Writers Fellow with the Center for Fiction in 2019, and a Fellow in Fiction with the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2015. She was awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in 2017. Her short stories have appeared in Electric Literature, The Lifted Brow, Post Road, and more. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She served as Contributing Editor for Brick Underground and has contributed essays, features, criticism, opinion, and profiles to The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Jezebel, Dame, The Village Voice, and more. She teaches fiction and non-fiction for the Gotham Writers Workshop.