What is the title of your latest release?
LUCKY GIRL
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A popstar plucks young, precocious dancer Lucy to star in her music video, alienating Lucy from her family and setting her on a journey through kaleidoscopic Hollywood to discover who she wants to become before her fifteen minutes of fame is up.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I knew Hollywood would be the main setting of the book in the second half; it made sense for Lucy to start in Massachusetts, where I grew up. I chose Leominster, Massachusetts specifically for her hometown because it has a perfect mix of rural woods and middle-class Olive Gardens, contrasting to the steely richness of LA.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Absolutely! I would love to have a deep talk with Lucy and help reframe some of her experiences. If she was one of my high school students—and that’s kind of how I imagine her, because for much of the novel, she’s the same age as my students—I would guide her through a personal narrative or autofiction assignment to help her sort her feelings out and think about her future.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Tenacious, driven, sensitive
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Simpler is always better. For example, initially Lucy had four brothers—it was my agent who suggested cutting them down into just two, which allowed both Micah and Joel much more room to breathe.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit scenes as I go, and then I edit them again when I’m done! There’s little that I’ve written that wasn’t fussed over at least twice.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I love a good shrimp cocktail. And currently, because I’m nine months pregnant, I cannot wait to stand over a charcuterie board and not simply eyeball the salami and soft cheeses!
Describe your writing space/office!
My primary writing space is in our almost finished basement, using my sister’s old craft table adorned with all these bumper stickers advertising rock climbing gyms and farms that make me seem much hipper than I am. We have our cat tree directly to the right, and our cat Murphy enjoys lording over me while I’m working. And I would be remiss not to also include our dog Rudy under the table, because he’s a classic Velcro-Aussie.
Who is an author you admire?
There are so many, which is to say, any author I have ever met in undergrad or grad! An author who comes to mind because I’ve built an entire 3-week curriculum around her work is Emily St. John Mandel. Seeing my students connect with STATION ELEVEN has given me a real vision for the way I would like to see readers connect with my own work.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Not to be awful, but I would say any book I’ve read has added to my life. But in terms of changed in a dramatic way, Christopher Paolini’s ERAGON was the book that inspired tween Allie to start writing. I saw he published his first book when he was fifteen, and eleven-year-old me was like, alright, if I start now, I can beat that! At thirty-three, I’m only a little over double that initial goal.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I learned that Tin House was going to publish LUCKY GIRL while I was at work. I remember being very nice to my students, which I always am, but like, extra nice. On my drive home, I stopped at a gas station and bought myself Vitamin Water and a giant thing of Cheetos as a special treat, and then I called my parents.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I would call myself a fictional omnivore. Preteen Allie would have said epic fantasy (see Eragon), while teen and undergrad Allie devoured the entire Best American Short Stories backlog and contemporary fiction a la Jhumpa Lhari. My current sweet spot is quirky, sad/ funny contemporary fiction a la Rufi Thorpe and Annie Harnett.
What’s your favorite movie?
If I’m being honest, PRINCESS MONONOKE. But recently I watched THE HOLDOVERS and I cannot get it out of my brain!
What is your favorite season?
Definitely autumn. I hadn’t really been partial to the season until I lived in Los Angeles and felt its absence in my New England bones.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
It has become tradition that on my birthday, I order Indian food, and my husband makes carrot cake. On another night, we’ll eat out with friends and family. Any chance I can eat in or out, I’ll take it!
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just finished BRING THE HOUSE DOWN by Charlotte Runcie and it perfectly captured the big, raw emotions I’ve felt being a debut author with her book about to be out there in the world, while also being heavily pregnant and about to become a mother. So funny and human! For TV—I’ve been enjoying a lot of not so recent Bush-era comfort shows: LOST and HOUSE, especially while I’m waiting for season 2 of THE PITT.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
All my friends and family know I am a diehard fan of Chinese food. In high school, I worked as a receptionist as a local Chinese restaurant. I had unlimited access to pork fried rice, and I haven’t enjoyed such rich work perks since.
What do you do when you have free time?
Sadly, I would not be truthful if I didn’t say I had a blocker on my phone so I can’t spend more than an hour on TikTok. This is an interesting question to answer as someone about to become a first-time mother in less than 2 weeks. Right now, I love walking my dog in the woods and listening to my audio book on full blast to ward off black bears. I also play a lot of video games, from Civ 6 to Baldur’s Gate.
What can readers expect from you next?
I am working on my second novel about an improv actor named Jordan who is diagnosed with ALS. She’s wasted her twenties—and now, her life—working this day job at a dismal nursing home for Alzheimer’s patients, and soon after her diagnosis, she snaps and facilitates the escape of her favorite patient, a disgraced Shakespeare professor searching for his daughter. But in the meantime, I’ll also be working on my debut son, who is due ten days after LUCKY GIRL comes out!
A Novel
An exhilarating, darkly funny debut novel about the absurd and fleeting nature of childhood fame, and the ever-evolving desire for family and forgiveness.
Lucy Gardiner felt like she was put on earth to dance.
Amid the chaos of her Massachusetts upbringing—her loving, erratic brothers; her overburdened mother—twelve-year-old Lucy is discovered and cast on a new dance reality show. When its popstar judge, Bruise, takes an obsessive interest in Lucy’s raw talent, Lucy’s life suddenly becomes what she’s always wanted—or has it? In the whirlwind of talk shows, movie sets, and extravagant Hollywood parties of her teenage years, Lucy slowly grows more alienated from her family. And when a series of youthful mistakes comes back to haunt her, she finds she must free herself from Bruise’s world of fame and all its trappings, and decide where her home truly is.
With lively prose and a rich cast of supporting characters—including a retired parrot actor traumatized by his former career—Lucky Girl is an unparalleled coming-of-age story that explores the sparkling highs and heartbreaking lows of ambition, infamy, and the determination to follow a dream, wherever it might lead.
Literature and Fiction Literary | Coming of Age [ Tin House Books, On Sale: November 11, 2025, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781963108620 / eISBN: 9781963108637 ]
Allie Tagle-Dokus is a writer and high school teacher. Lucky Girl (Tin House) is her debut novel. She received her BFA in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College and her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She currently lives in Gardner, Massachusetts, with her husband and dog.
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