As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naïveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

I fell in love with this novel from its first sentence: “You are about to begin reading a new book, and to be honest, you are a little tense.” This was the perfect introduction to our guiding voice, Margo, who is by turns wry and funny, vulnerable and wise.

At the beginning of the book, we find Margo in a desperate situation: nineteen, pregnant by her college professor (who wants nothing to do with her or the baby), and in a tenuous financial position now that she has childcare to worry about. So she gets creative. Margo has heard that people can make good money on OnlyFans, and she likes the idea of a job she can do from the comfort of her own home. Coincidentally, her estranged father—an ex-wrestler—shows up at her door, asking for a place to stay, letting her check childcare off her list, too. But things only get more complicated when she achieves unexpected Internet fame, and suddenly everyone seems to have an opinion on how Margo makes her money.

The stakes here couldn’t be higher for Margo: feed her baby and keep him safe. But beyond this clear-cut premise are juicy, complex ideas about what makes people “good” or “bad,” what it means to be independent, the ethics of sex work, and a whole lot of complicated family dynamics. Margo’s Got Money Troubles is unique, moving, hilarious, and whip-smart. I have not stopped thinking about Margo since reading it, and I promise you won’t either.