'Acutely elegant.a seductive evocation of a lost world.' Phoebe's story is worth the read and the ride.' A place where the intrepid could pursue their dreams. 'Standiford captures New York when it was dangerous and affordable. “A new wave coming-of-age story, Astrid Sees All is a blast from the past” (Stewart O’Nan, author of The Speed Queen) about female friendship, sex, romance, and what it’s like to be a young woman searching for an identity.

When the intoxicating brew of sex, drugs, and self-destruction leads Phoebe to betray her friend, Carmen disappears, and Phoebe begins an unstoppable descent into darkness. Carmen juggles her junkie-poet boyfriend and a sexy painter while, as Astrid the Star Girl, Phoebe tells fortunes in a nightclub and plots her revenge on Ivan. With her best friend Carmen, she escapes to the East Village, disappearing into an underworld haunted by artists, It Girls, and lost souls trying to party their pain away.

Phoebe wants to return to New York, not only to chase the glamorous life she so desperately craves but also to confront Ivan, the older man who wronged her. But the recent death of her father has so devastated her that her mother wants her to remain home in Baltimore to recover. New York, 1984: Twenty-two-year-old Phoebe Hayes is a young woman in search of excitement and adventure. Essential reading for fans of Sweetbitter, Fleabag, and books by Patti Smith. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.This “vivid portrait of a seedy, edgy, artsy, and seething New York City that will never exist again” (Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author)- the glittering, decadent downtown club scene of the 1980s-follows a smart, vulnerable young woman as she takes a deep dive into her dark side. From the talented author of 'The Fires' comes a fascinating novel of art, passion, modernity, and war set in the early years of the 20th century that provides a portrait of the real-life Baroness Elsa of Greenwich Village. and transforming herself into a living, breathing work of art. In an era of brutal war, technological innovation, and cataclysmic change, the Baroness had resolved to create her own destiny - taking the center of the Dadaist circle, breaking every bond of female propriety. When she wasn' t stalking the streets of Greenwich Village wearing a brassiere made from tomato cans, she was enthusiastically declaiming her poems to sailors in beer halls or posing nude for Man Ray or Marcel Duchamp. No one in 1917 New York had ever encountered a woman like the Bar-oness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven - poet, artist, proto-punk rocker, sexual libertine, fashion avatar, and unrepentant troublemaker.

Holy Skirts by Rene Steinke