Utter Goodness

by Audrey Lee

Thirteen short stories spanning the country—from East Coast to West, from New York City to backwater counties—await you in Utter Goodness. Beasts, birds, murder, muscles, Soviets, and swans sing in chorus: Audrey Lee’s characters face religion, love, and judgement in every state of the nation and in every state of grace.

Genres: Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2026

Reviews

[Nellie Konopka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had a weird day yesterday and pretty much just tore through this while prepping for the blizzard- it was good company.

[moonandmouth · Rating 5 out of 5]

you, a pleb: *reading the latest industry plant literary it/e-girl novel about urbanites dming each other*

me, an aristocrat: *reading the latest organic poaster-ess's short story collection about 90s heartlanders who've never held a smartphone*

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

had been reading this on and off when i was at the laundry mat (hence why i can't remember what day i started this), but dove into this the last few days and wow - audrey killed it here. she does such an excellent job of coming up with stories for people you may never interact with and places you may never visit yourself, but makes you feel like you're there witnessing everything going on and wanting you give somewhat of a damn on what's going with their lives, even if you can't relate to their situation