The Nobody Code

A spellbinding novel steeped in New England folklore following a woman who leaves her marriage to uncover who's punishing her for the crimes of her adolescence--for fans of Liz Moore's The God of the Woods and Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You. 

"Spellbinding." --Maria Hummel, author of Still Lives and Goldenseal

One fateful night in the 1990s, Dinah, a small-town Vermont teen, sneaks out on a mission to jump on the neighbor's forbidden trampoline. There she comes upon a handsome, seductive boy named Rex, who leads a group of underground vigilante teenagers who call themselves "Nobody." Dinah falls under Rex's sway and joins the group. She'll do anything to impress him, even when it's dangerous. After an incident orchestrated by Rex results in steep repercussions for herself and others, Dinah leaves the town and her adolescent years behind.

Now, twenty years later, Rex has long vanished. Dinah is married with a baby and a job at the local zoo. But she is not at peace, and it seems as if someone from the past won't let her go quietly. When mysterious clues start appearing, animals at the zoo go missing, and an old conspirator barely survives a suspicious fire, Dinah's paranoia gets the best of her, and she takes the baby and drives back to her hometown to investigate. Although Dinah reunites with old friends, the forces out to get her make it painfully clear: Dinah must repent and face her enemies alone.  

Miciah Bay Gault is the Elizabeth Drew professor of fiction at Smith College and core faculty in the MFA in writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her first novel, Goodnight Stranger (2019), was nominated for a Shirley Jackson award, longlisted for the Center for Fiction's first novel prize, and selected for Poets & Writers' First Fiction roundup. She's been a fellow at Bread Loaf, a visiting writer at Vermont Sudio Center, and her fiction and essays have appeared in Tin House, The Sun, Agni, The Southern Review, The Harvard Review, The New York Times "Modern Love" column, Poets & Writers, and other places.