by Molly Fader
First published 2026
Margot Cooper flees to her childhood home after her actor husband's social media scandal explodes across tabloids. She brings her teenage daughter, seeking refuge from paparazzi and public humiliation. In the attic, Margot uncovers a cardboard box containing newspaper clippings about Lady X, a notorious vigilante from 1970s New York. A blurry photograph shows a woman who resembles her mother. The story shifts to 1977, where Ginger Daughtry and her roommates live through New York's chaotic summer. When one roommate suffers assault and police ignore their report, the women retaliate with acts of vandalism, signing their work as Lady X. Their small acts of revenge spark a citywide movement as copycats adopt the Lady X identity. The situation escalates when criminals exploit the name for their own purposes. After someone falls or gets pushed from a five-story building, authorities intensify their manhunt. Lady X disappears without a trace. Three generations of women confront the rage and resistance that connects them across decades.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, feminism, crime, contemporary, 21st-century, activism, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New York
Period: 1970s, 21st-century
352 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: sexual-assault, violence