Narcissus Nobody
A Novel
The voice of disgraced love guru Brooks Nixon seems to haunt Hope Townsend, showing up at inopportune moments to deliver unwelcome commentary on her hapless romances. Brooks―who once doled out cliched dating advice to millions―fell out of favor with his fanbase when a life-altering experience shifted his counsel to a free-wheeling, anti-monogamy platform. The about-face earned him the moniker “Narcissus Nixon” and made him slightly less annoying to Hope, a goth music devotee who prefers animals over people. Hope’s dueling traits of misanthropy and compassion often hinder her progress in relationships as well as jobs, as she provides home-care to the elderly―listening to their stories while wading through her own―and does administrative work at a shady psychic hotline. Little by little, she finds herself more influenced by the new Nixon than she’d care to admit. To shake off his hold on her thoughts and come to terms with her own destiny, she must uncover the truth behind Nixon’s transformation and draw the line between his recommendations and her authentic desires. Through playfully witty dialogue weaved into eccentric storytelling, NARCISSUS NOBODY is a brilliant―often humorous―story of a woman who is driven to embody free-spirited independence in the face of society’s more conventional expectations. Author Gina Yates is the youngest daughter of the late celebrated author Richard Yates (Revolutionary Road), and with this novel―ingenious, with crack-up moments of cleverness―she makes her mark as a writer of sparkling originality.
Author Gina Yates has spent decades honing her craft through an unconventional path of travel and entrepreneurship. After immigrating to Canada on a student visa in the early 90s, she married a Canadian citizen and embarked on months-long backpacking trips with him around Asia, Central America, and Africa, funding their travels by selling handcrafted jewelry at music festivals and at downtown Vancouver kiosks. Following a divorce and a years-long stint on the island of Roatan, Honduras, Gina briefly studied creative writing at the University of Northern Michigan in 2003 before returning to Vancouver and eventually earning a diploma in Fashion Business and Creative Arts. During this period she wrote her first novel, an unpublished fictionalized memoir of her time in Honduras, a time that was marred by the addiction and mental illness she inherited from her father, the late celebrated author Richard Yates. Since moving to New Mexico in 2008, she has owned and operated the eclectic vintage clothing shop Frock Star Vintage in Albuquerque as well as completed her first published novel, Narcissus Nobody.
