A NOVEL by Dale Bailey
PUBLICATION DATE  October 2026
COVER ART & INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS  Ilan Sheady
PAGES 207
EDITION Jacketed Hardcover limited to 100 copies signed by Dale Bailey and Ilan Sheady
ISBN  978-1-80394-617-7

About the Book 

Inspired by the best title of the worst movie you’ve never seen, ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN marries its whimsical sci-fi trope—there is indeed a 50 Foot Woman!—with an immersive account of Robert Oppenheimer’s life in the months preceding Trinity, the world’s first atomic bomb test. When the novel’s protagonist, Nancy Archer, a grieving war widow, becomes Oppenheimer’s (fictional) Los Alamos secretary, she has a front-row seat at the Manhattan Project.

But Nancy is infinitely more than an observer. As she settles in at Los Alamos, she finds herself increasingly attracted to Oppie—and both disconcerted and excited to find that he returns her feelings. This incipient relationship leads to her accidental exposure to the bomb’s radioactive fuel, transforming her in ways, both physical and psychological, that she could never have imagined. A giant in every sense of the word, Nancy finds herself not only forced to face her own grief—and her culpability in her husband’s death—but to grapple with a profound and world-shattering decision: now that she understands the true power of the atomic bomb, what is she going to do about the Trinity Test?

Her decision—and its long-reaching consequences—reshapes history as we understand it, marrying the gonzo energy of pulp fiction with the moral consequence and emotional nuance of literary fiction. In the manner of Jonathan Lethem and Karen Russell, ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN is both a morally serious investigation of time and sorrow, love, grief, and forgiveness—and a wildly entertaining ride.