Reckless Girls: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.

Lux is the novel’s protagonist and primary narrator who moves from a place of aimlessness to embracing Female Agency and the Reclamation of Power over the course of the novel. She begins her arc lost, unmoored, and without a strong sense of direction. She describes years spent moving from job to job, partying, and socializing without forming real bonds. By the time she meets Nico, this lifestyle has begun to wear on her, and she notes, “At 25, all of it is starting to feel like a series of wrong turns and missed chances” (11). She’s drawn to Nico in part because, unlike her, he’s grounded, has direction, and knows what he wants to do with his life.  

Hawkins situates Lux’s lack of direction within the context of her grief. She lost her mother to cancer while she was in college and had to drop out of school. Her mother was her only real family, and her illness only widened the gulf between Lux and her father. She lost many of her friends while she was caring for her mother, and when her mother died, she was left without family, friends, or the structure of university life to anchor herself.