Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by the Chicago Review of Books "In her debut story collection of force and insight, Madden crafts a way into the interior lives of women young and old, empowered and repressed, exhausted, determined, and enraged." -- Booklist "Madden lets visceral, tangled-up emotions shine with unwavering, clear prose that manages to immerse the reader immediately into the handful of paragraphs that sometimes comprise the entire story . Amidst vignettes that feel wildly plausible, Madden intervenes with a demand to suspend your disbelief." -- Chicago Review of Books "Many of the characters and situations featured in You Know Nothing , exist in the charged space between intimacy and alienation. The collection's title foregrounds a contradiction that reverberates throughout the book: the desire to know and be known, set against the stubborn limits of human perception, experience and empathy . a knowing, unsentimental, at times darkly comic examination of contemporary American life." -- Newcity "Yasmina Din Madden's stories weave through the lives of women with some of the most distinct voices on the page. She has a masterful grasp on how to make a large cast of characters, though a wide berth of stories, each of which feels wholly unique.
Each of them feel fully realized." -- Debutiful "Readers, I gasped. You Know Nothing is a triumph of imagination, heart, and understated emotion. These are tales you'd trade on the playground in an alternate universe--a universe you won't want to leave after reaching the last page. Each story unsettles as much as it entertains." --Kelly Luce, author of Pull Me Under "The propulsive, heart-wrenching stories of You Know Nothing explore the messy interiority of women who are on the brink of realization. With knife-sharp prose and unforgettable detail, Yasmina Din Madden pushes on her characters' bruises until the reader also feels the ache." --Maggie Su, author of Blob: A Love Story " You Know Nothing is a wonder.
At times electrifyingly surreal, at times achingly realistic, these raw and vulnerable stories feature women brimming with desire and rage. A haunting debut." --Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City.