“A compact, brutal story of losing power and creating community . . . So Lucky is beautifully written, with a flexible, efficient precision that embodies the protagonist’s voice and character.” ― Amal El-Mohtar, The New York Times Book Review
“A short, fast-paced whirlwind of a novel… Spine tingling and in places downright terrifying.” — Yas Necati, Independent
“With great insight and power, Griffith chronicles one woman’s fight… [and] the plot twists into a sophisticated thriller.” — Jane Ciabattari, BBC Culture
“[D]isorienting, destabilizing, and game-changing. I have never read anything like it.” — Riva Lehrer, award-winning artist, and author of Golem Girl
“Successfully disguised as a page-turning thriller, So Lucky is also a deep meditation on marginalization, vulnerability, and resistance.” — Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“Explosive, tightly plotted…brutal, unsparing… It is full of power and healing, like a forest fire that will burn every single thing to the ground to make way for new growth.” — Joanne Rixon, Seattle Times
“A disconcerting but very necessary book.” — Dana Hansen, Chicago Review of Books
“This swift, luminescent novel casts a shard of light onto the mind of a woman whose life is collapsing.” — John Freeman, Boston Globe
“A terse and brutally urgent novel, So Lucky is a reminder that Griffith is one of the most important writers working today.” — Kaite Welsh, DIVA
“Griffith examines the impact that fear of the outside world and internal disintegration can have those who only know themselves through strength.” ― Erin Vanderhoof, Vanity Fair
“So Lucky is a boundless, fearless animal of a novel. It’s structurally ingenious and beautifully written, thrumming with breathtaking sentences that evoke in us a sense of deep empathy.” ― Sharma Shields, Cascadia
“Feminist fiction at its best: powerful storytelling informed by politics with a memorable plot and protagonist. This thriller is a fantastic afternoon read―and once you pick it up, you’ll read all the way to the end.” ― Julie Enszer, Ms. Magazine
“This fierce novel is an unflinching look at how terribly chronically ill and disabled people are treated as well as a declaration of self-love and hope.” ― Casey, Autostraddle
“[C]ompelling reading, a tour de force … It is intense, sad, and dramatic, combining mystery, romance, terror, and hope.” — Steven E. Brown, Co-Founder: Institute on Disability Culture, and author of Movie Stars and Sensuous Scars
“So Lucky fires a gritty, scary, wrathful, sometimes blisteringly funny broadside at the monsters of ableist culture.” — Maria Dahvana Headley, author of The Mere Wife
“So Lucky is somehow both a tense psychological thriller and a subtle character portrait… Nicola Griffith is an essential writer, and here she is at her most personal, political, and perfectly unputdownable.” — Robin Sloan, author of Sourdough
“This angry, funny, cleverly-written piece … ushers in a new wave of disability story.” — Susan Nussbaum, author of Good Kings, Bad Kings
“Griffith’s lean, taut prose…transforms So Lucky into a story about what we all share: an unpredictable life filled with vulnerability and need for community.” — Kenny Fries, author of In the Province of the Gods
“This book is a body-slam of empowerment, a roar of frustration so sustained and compelling that it cannot be ignored […] a tough, accomplished novel, a book that readers didn’t know they needed.” — Katharine Coldiron, Arts Fuse
“The nuances of disability feel more real than anything I’ve read … It is real and raw. Griffith doesn’t pull any punches just to seem more approachable for a nondisabled reader and even among what little fiction writing about disability by disabled writers there is, this is still a rarity.” — Kim Sauder, Crippled Scholar
“So Lucky is unlike any other book I’ve ever read.” — Casey Stepaniuk, Bookriot
“It is a humane story, of bravery and coming to terms with the darkest parts of oneself.” — Martin McClellan, Seattle Review of Books
“The brilliance of So Lucky lies in the seamless merging of genres.” — David Perry, Pacific Stand
“Searing…a fresh and powerful novel and antidote to the sense of victimhood.” ― Booklist
“Refreshing as fuck.” ― Fangirlish
“A tight page-turner on a shelf full of long, weepy struggles to overcome.” ― Evan Allgood, The Millions
“Read So Lucky because there is nothing else like it.” ― Emma Nichols, BookRiot
“Despite the exhilaration…Griffith’s tale is a verbal switchblade.” ― Peter Wong, BeyondChron
“A tale about the testing of an individual. Griffith’s stark, dramatic style is perfectly suited to the story of a woman [that’s] as fast-paced and engaging as a thriller.” ― Jean Roberta, The Gay & Lesbian Review
“Nicola Griffith’s So Lucky is incandescent genius.” ― Shouting About Queer SF
Reviews
- New York Times Book Review
- Chicago Review of Books
- BBC Culture: Ten Books to Read in May
- Cascadia
- Seattle Times: Intensely human tale of illness, fear, and fighting back
- Book Riot: 30 Books to Read Before College
- Arts Fuse: So Lucky – A Body-Slam of Empowerment
- Shouting about Queer SF
- How Ableism Affects a Book Review
- Seattle Review of Books: Able, Abled, Abler
- Lambda Literary: So Lucky by Nicola Griffith
- CripReads: I was “So Lucky” to read Nicola Griffith’s Book
- The Third Sunday: Lucky Strike: So Lucky is a Flame of a Novel
- Booklist
- Kirkus: So Lucky
- Open Letters: So Lucky by Nicola Griffith
- Janepedia: So Lucky
- Fangirlish: Queerly Not Straight
- Wordgathering
- Diva Magazine
- Newtown Review
- Gay & Lesbian Review
- Crime Reads
Interviews
- Moss
- A&U Magazine
- The Millions: Nicola Griffith Doesn’t Want to Inspire You
- Pacific Stand
- Disability Visibility Project: Interview with Nicola Griffith
- Crosscut: Nicola Griffith Gets Personal About Disability
- Hazlitt: A Way to Overwrite the Ableist Narrative
- XRAY in the Morning (radio) [begins 1:06:20]
- Disability Arts Online
Essays
- New York Times: Rewriting the Old Disability Script
- Work in Progress: Developing Stories: a photo essay
- Powell’s Blog: “I Need It So I’ll Have to Build It” The So Lucky Playlist
- Work in Progress: Origins of #CripLit
- Seattle Review of Books: Whatcha Reading
- Whatever: The Big Idea: Nicola Griffith
Video
- Teaser 2 for cover reveal.
- Teaser 1 for cover reveal.
- Snippet of reading
- Snippet of conversation
- Animated cover
Honours
- Winner, Washington State Book Award, Fiction
- American Library Association Over the Rainbow Booklist
- PNBA Book Awards, shortlist
- Tournament of Books, shortlist
- Best Book of 2018, Autostraddle
- Book of the Month, Diva Magazine
- Boston Globe Best Book of 2018
- Advocate Best Book of 2018