First published 2016
Wendy Lawless flees the wreckage of her childhood with an unstable, glamorous mother and lands in downtown Manhattan before gentrification cleaned it up. She arrives with little more than thrift store clothes and determination to build a new life. The city pulses around her with punk rockers, struggling actors, and wild parties that stretch through the night. Wendy stumbles through her twenties making every possible mistake while searching for love, work, and sometimes just her next meal. The creative underground becomes her classroom as she learns to navigate relationships with jaded artists and performers. Her past keeps surfacing in unexpected encounters that force her to confront what she left behind. Through failed romances and financial desperation, Wendy discovers how to grow up without a roadmap, finding her voice in a world that demands authenticity above all else.
Genres: american-fiction, coming-of-age, autobiography, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Manhattan
Period: 20th-century
Audio CD · Tantor Audio