Society Women
Adriane Leigh
Harper Publisher
March 2026
Society Women by Adriane Leigh explores secret societies, complicated relationships and the darker side of privilege.
Ellie works as an accountant at her father’s successful investment company in New York City. She enjoys all the comforts her privileged lifestyle affords—a two-bedroom apartment overlooking Central Park, a generous trust fund, and a devastatingly attractive if often absent husband who works long hours for her father as well. Yet the introverted young woman who wants for nothing feels aimless and untethered. Ellie lost her mother at a young age and still has nightmares about her death. She sometimes sleepwalks at night and finds herself stumbling through the days.
But Ellie’s life takes a turn when she receives an anonymous invitation in the mail, asking her to join an elite women’s club known only as “The Society.” Intrigued, she begins to attend their lavish gatherings where she meets her new close companion, Aubrey, and enjoys the benefits of belonging to the group—friendship, sisterhood, and support from other successful and glamorous women. Then Ellie makes a horrifying discovery about the society and its “philanthropic work.” The women of The Society harbor dark, dangerous secrets—secrets that may implicate Ellie’s own family.
Wickedly twisty, Society Women is a gripping story of prestige, power, and dirty secrets that will hook you with every surprising turn and leave you questioning every truth until the final, shocking end.
Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?
Adriane Leigh: I write at a local café and was listening to women talk about relationships. I thought how women in relationships allow husbands to capitalize on women who subtly put themselves in a psychological box. This was the seed along with what women have inherited from those before them and how it impacts relationships.
EC: What about the physical trauma?
AL: My main character, Ellie, had the fear that she was becoming her mom. The sleepwalking and the nightmares were the visual representations. It was a creeping fear that took over her body, impacting her confidence, and shaking her belief on what is real and what is not.
EC: How would you describe the husband, Jack?
AL: He is wonderful, polished, with the perfect veneer on the outside. Just below the surface he thinks he is supportive. But he is also quietly undermining his wife and her confidence. He is taking her power in a very subtle way. She does not realize Jack is doing it because he seems to do it with kindness and warmth as a caring doting husband. Outwardly he has that charm about it, but he can be manipulative, controlling, and arrogant. He is driven by ambition.
EC: How would you describe Ellie?
AL: She is learning who she is. Raised by her father she was told who she should be and what to do with her life. She has put on this nice girl persona. As the story unfolds, she realizes she is not exactly who she thought she is and realizes there have been secrets she has not been told. There is a point in the story she must decide to continue to live inside the box her family and society have built for her or is she going to take back her power. She is going on an emotional and psychological journey because the men in her life have labeled her as anxious. She starts out as naïve and trusting which fits into part of her journey.
EC: Why didn’t she ask for a DNA test of proof when her mother and sister came into her life?
AL: She had her father on a pedestal since he was her only parent. Ellie did not want to think of him as a liar but have the others as liars. The same with her husband if she thinks he is lying and manipulative that would uproot and change her whole life. This was a scary thought for her. For her, she must decide what is more dangerous, the unknown, or staying within her bubble.
EC: What about Aubrey?
AL: She walks both sides of the fence. She is a little bit grey with her motivations. She has a bit of a chip on her shoulder. She has ruthless and calculating moments. She is a very good counterpoint to Ellie’s character.
EC: What is the role of the group, ‘The Society’?
AL: I think it is women supporting women. At first, it is a place for women to share, vent, and support each other. The more they realize the system does not work for them. It evolves into women using their psychological power to undermine and right the wrongs for justice. They are doing vigilante justice.
EC: Next book?
AL: It is about a writer with the setting of an island off the Washington coast. She meets another writer at a coffee shop who becomes a mentor to her. They both are writing a story from different angles. Both characters are morally grey with a sprinkle of grey. The working title is The Final Draft.
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