Soft Core A Novel
Soft Core by Brittany Newell, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on February 4, 2025, is a novel that explores the chaotic journey of a young woman named Ruth as she searches for her missing ex-boyfriend. Living in a Victorian house with Dino, a ketamine dealer, Ruth finds herself drawn into the sexual underground after taking a job at a strip club, where she adopts the persona of Baby Blue. This narrative unfolds against a backdrop of vibrant characters and settings, including dive bars and a BDSM dungeon, as Ruth navigates her increasingly unstable reality.
Readers will encounter a blend of psychological and literary elements as Ruth’s quest leads her through the underbelly of San Francisco, filled with unexpected encounters and revelations. The story delves into themes of power, fantasy, love, and loss, presenting a brutally funny and propulsive tale that captures the essence of longing and the complexities of human relationships. With 352 pages, this edition offers a vivid portrayal of a girl coming undone, reflecting on her desires and the consequences of her choices.
Official synopsis Publisher
“Vivid . . . Exhilarating . . . Soft Core is pacey and rich, full of verve, drama and detail.” —The New York Times Book Review
A young woman’s madcap search for her missing ex-boyfriend takes her into the sexual underground in Brittany Newell’s savage, tender Soft Core.
Ruth is lost. She’s living in a drafty Victorian with her ex-boyfriend Dino, a ketamine dealer with a lingerie habit, overdosing on television and regretting her master’s degree. When she starts dancing at a strip club, she becomes Baby Blue, seductress of crypto bros, outcasts, and old lovers alike. Plunged into this swirling underworld of beautiful women, fast cash, ungodly hours, and strangers’ secrets, Baby’s grip on reality begins to loosen. She is sure she can handle it—until one autumn morning when Dino disappears without a trace.
Thus begins a nocturnal quest for the one she still loves—through the misty hills of San Francisco; in dive bars and bus depots; at the BDSM dungeon where she takes a part-time gig. Along the way, she meets Simon, a recluse who pays her for increasingly bizarre favors; a philosophizing suicide fetishist named Nobody; and Emeline, the beautiful and balletic new hire who reminds Baby of someone . . .
A brutally funny, propulsive story of power, fantasy, love, and loss, Brittany Newell’s Soft Core is an ode to the heartbroken and unhinged, to those whose appetites lead them astray. It is a hallucinogenic romp about a girl coming undone, whose longing for friendship, romance, and revenge will take her over the edge and back again.
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