Down on the South Beach Drag

<b>A poignant and irreverent coming-of-age tale of a queer young aspiring photographer in the '70s torn between her love for her conservative family and her desire to be true to herself perfect for fans of <i>Daisy Jones and the Six</i>.</b> <p/><b>Glitter and grit . . . a steaming--and unforgettable--summer of initiation.--James M. Tabor <i>O. Henry Award winner and author of Blind Descent</i></b> <p/><b>Quirky characters unpredictable twists a beautiful love story and even an appearance by Bruce Springsteen . . . A joy to read!--Jacqueline Friedland <i>USA Today best-selling author of He Gets That From Me</i></b> <p/>1972 Jersey's Asbury Park. One red-headed girl with a camera one washed-up old seaside resort ninety days to decide whether she leaves . . . or finally belongs. <p/>Eighteen-year-old Maeve O'Connor has one way out of her strict Irish-Catholic home: win a statewide photo contest and bolt for art school in Manhattan. She stakes everything on one restless summer in weather-worn Asbury Park a boardwalk alive with sideshow performers flickering neon lights and bar bands chasing their break. <p/>Maeve's lens and her pulse lock onto Georgie a singer in midnight eyeliner whose voice rattles the plywood walls and refuses every label the town tries to stamp on him. Through Georgie she finds a community of carnival artists stage performers and night-shift musicians who treat one another like family because the world won't. <p/>But rumors spread fast in Asbury Park. Scathing newspaper headlines branding her a Lewd Voyeur church busybodies judging her and Maeve's own parents tugging her home.