Catherine Lancaster

Quick Facts

• Role: Legendary former editor-in-chief of City Woman; a gatekeeping tastemaker who becomes the protagonist’s fiercest champion
• First appearance: “Fourteen Years Earlier” (flashback chapter)
• Sphere of influence: New York media, fashion, politics—she’s welcome at the Met Gala and on every power list
• Key relationships: her protégé-turned-friend (see below), the magazine’s lawyer, and the protagonist’s estranged sister

Who They Are

A glamorous, razor-sharp media matriarch, Catherine Lancaster is the mentor who turns survival skills into a philosophy. She’s both strategist and soft place to land—someone who can manage a crisis, make a career, and deliver tough love without flinching. In a world obsessed with optics, she understands better than anyone the ongoing negotiation between Public Image vs. Private Reality, and she teaches her protégé how to navigate it without losing her soul.

Presence & Style

Catherine’s look is part armor, part calling card: age-defying polish paired with eccentric flourishes. Her fashion choices announce authority and joy in the same breath.

Her gown was a peacock-blue shirtdress style with a big, dramatic pointed collar. Her bright orange hair was pulled up, wrapped in one of her signature turbans, and her makeup was minimal with the exception of dark brick-red lipstick. (Chapter 3)

The vivid color, the “signature” turban, the brick-red lip—her style telegraphs unmistakable authorship. She curates her image the way she curated a magazine: bold, intentional, unforgettable.

Personality & Traits Catherine blends charisma with steel-trap pragmatism. She’s the rare mentor who cultivates talent and autonomy at once—pushing, protecting, and preparing her protégé to own the room and the narrative.

• Influential and well-connected: Moves effortlessly among power brokers—designers, editors, the mayor—signaling that her endorsement confers legitimacy (Met Gala, “Fourteen Years Earlier”).
• Perceptive and insightful: Spots talent early and names it specifically—calling her protégé’s “smart gut” long before others see it (Chapter 3).
• Direct and unflinching: Famous for saying the unsayable; if she disapproves, you’ll hear it (“Fourteen Years Earlier”).
• Supportive and loyal: Drops everything and drives to East Hampton after Adam Macintosh’s murder, prioritizing care and protection over optics (Chapter 11).
• Pragmatic and media-savvy: Treats crisis first as a narrative problem to solve—her immediate advice is to issue a press release (Chapter 11).
• Showmanship with purpose: Surprise-introduces her protégé at a major gala, turning a professional accolade into a public anointing (Chapter 3).

Character Journey

Catherine is a steady axis rather than a shape-shifter. Her “arc” is a deepening of function: from distant legend to hands-on mentor to intimate friend and ally. Early on, she opens doors and names strengths; later, she lends her name, power, and presence—then shows up in the darkest hour to steer the narrative and protect the person. As a counterpoint to the novel’s fraught family dynamics, her relationship models a generous, high-functioning version of female alliance, reframing Sisterhood and Rivalry as chosen kinship built on respect, candor, and loyalty.

Key Relationships

• Chloe Taylor: Catherine discovers, champions, and ultimately befriends Chloe, shaping both her craft and her confidence. Their bond moves from mentorship to mutuality: Catherine’s public endorsement amplifies Chloe’s career, while Chloe’s integrity and empathy affirm Catherine’s belief in what power is for.
• Nicky Macintosh: Though Catherine and Nicky rarely interact directly, Catherine’s nurturing of Chloe creates a foil to Chloe and Nicky’s combustible history. Catherine’s version of “sisterhood” offers the supportive, ethical alternative the biological sisters struggle to achieve, highlighting the emotional costs of rivalry.
• Bill Braddock: Catherine’s introduction links Chloe to the magazine’s lawyer, exemplifying how Catherine brokers access across media and legal spheres. The connection becomes a thread in the novel’s central mystery, showing how Catherine’s networks can both empower and entangle.

Defining Moments

Catherine’s most memorable scenes double as lessons—on power, optics, and loyalty—and each crystallizes a facet of her influence.

• The Met Gala (“Fourteen Years Earlier”): She invites her protégé into elite circles and frames success as a political and cultural project.
  • Why it matters: This invitation is both access and ideology; it launches Chloe’s ascent and sets the stage for the night’s personal rupture with Nicky and the beginnings of the Adam Macintosh entanglement.
• Press for the People Gala (Chapter 3): She appears as surprise introducer and delivers a heartfelt, authoritative tribute.
  • Why it matters: Publicly anointing Chloe shifts her from promising to definitive—Catherine uses her clout to script how the industry sees Chloe.
• Aftermath of Adam’s Murder (Chapter 11): She drives to East Hampton immediately and advises a proactive press release.
  • Why it matters: Catherine treats crisis as a narrative battlefield, embodying the novel’s concern with Truth, Deception, and Perception. Her presence fuses care with strategy: protect the person by managing the story.

Essential Quotes

People think we’re watching Sex and the City for the clothes and the orgasm banter, but it’s feminism disguised as dramedy. Another wave is building. It’s just a matter of time before the floodgates break, and women like you will be the ones to write the stories. (Fourteen Years Earlier)

Catherine reframes pop culture as political education, signaling her belief that storytelling drives social change. It’s also a manifesto for her mentorship: she isn’t just advancing a career; she’s recruiting a voice for the next wave.

I told Chloe early in her career, ‘You’ve got a smart gut; just learn how to trust it.’ But, watching her over the years, I’ve realized she has raw gut instincts, yes, but she also has an enormous heart filled with passion and empathy. And it’s that combination that makes her so exciting as a writer and publisher. (Chapter 3)

Here she defines excellence as instinct plus empathy, marrying editorial acumen to moral imagination. The praise functions as both character witness and public branding, shaping how the room—and the reader—sees Chloe.

Stay ahead of this, or the true-crime crowd will make you their newest black widow by bedtime. (Chapter 11)

Catherine’s crisis doctrine in one sentence: control the narrative or be consumed by it. The line is bracingly pragmatic and media-literate, revealing how quickly grief can be recoded as spectacle—and why she moves first to protect the story.